


Come What May

by CBSlave737



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-18 23:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 23,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14862416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CBSlave737/pseuds/CBSlave737
Summary: Just a collection of stories I've written using prompts from people, or quotes, lyrics, etc. Features all the Avengers and their support systems at various times.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ‘Life is all about finding people who are your kind of crazy’ – Disney

Fury named them, Phil brought them together, Steve lead them, Stark housed them, Maria helped keep them informed, Pepper helped protect them from the press, Thor was their warning system for trouble coming from other realms, Banner healed their injuries, and Natasha and Clint proved that they could all find happiness in this crazy world of monsters and magic and psychopaths.

They didn’t become a family immediately after the Battle of New York, heck, they were barely friendly to each other. After they apprehended Loki, they turned him over to SHIELD, and then they went to go try Shawarma.   
Tony left his suit at the tower, but did grab his briefcase version and took it with them as they walked down the streets to the little joint Tony saw during the fight. When they reached it they found the owners already sweeping and tossing chunks of concrete out the broken window.  
The owners started to protest when the bedraggled group came in, but when they saw Steve, still in his Captain America suit, although the hood was down, they changed their tune and started cooking fresh food...as soon as they wiped the appliances down.   
Steve and Thor moved tables together and the others dragged up chairs to sit in. Natasha scooted her chair a little closer to Clint’s and motioned for him to prop his foot up behind her. He smiled at her and rested his hand on her knee when she pressed it into the inside of his thigh.   
“So where do we go from here?” Tony asked the group.  
“I shall take Loki and the Tesseract back home. The cube cannot be trusted in the hands of midgaurdians.”  
“I take offense to that, SHIELD cannot be trusted with it. You could at least let me run some tests.” Tony said.  
“No.” came Steve and Bruce speaking in tandem.   
“Spoilsports.” Tony muttered.  
“Personally, I want to sleep for several days before taking a road trip, try to clear my head.” Steve said.  
“Apparently I’m always under surveillance, so it shouldn’t matter if I stay or go.” Bruce said looking over at Natasha who was having an eyes only conversation with Clint.  
“I told you Brucie, Stark Tower, candyland. I’d love to get you in there and see what you’ve got.”  
“Watch out Banner, Stark has had more than one sexual harassment suit against him.” Natasha shared.  
“Not from you though, Widow.” Tony pointed out.  
“Well, she is made from stronger stuff than what you’re used to, I’m sure.” Clint spoke up.  
“Of that I have no doubt.” Tony waggled his brows and even managed a slight smirk.  
Steve shook his head when Natasha produced a knife from behind her back and started twirling it between her fingers while staring Stark down.  
Tony cleared his throat before standing up, “I think I’m going to go try to call Pepper again.” He walked outside.  
Clint held his hand out, “my knife please.”  
One corner of her mouth lifted up as she ignored his hand and put it back in the ankle sheath on the leg propped beside her instead.   
“So are you going back to SHIELD right away or is Fury going to let you have a break?” Steve asked the two agents.  
They glanced at each other before Natasha tilted her head just a bit to the side allowing Clint to answer as he pleased.  
“Well Loki showing up kind of ruined both of our assignments, so now we report back to SHEILD to file our paperwork, then I’m taking some time off.”  
“Take a drive, clear your mind, get lost, at least until Fury calls for you.” Tony said, catching the tail end of the conversation as he returns to the table.  
“Sounds about right.” Clint agrees.  
“What if you didn’t?” Tony asked.  
“Didn’t what?”  
“What if you didn’t go back to SHIELD? What if we stayed as a team, taking out bad guys together?”  
“Are you expecting an alien invasion every week?” Bruce asked.  
“Well, now that we know it’s possible and, now that, according to Point Break here, other worlds know we are here, it’s a possibility.” Tony said.  
“They do.” Thor agreed before Bruce cut in.  
“I don’t think so Tony.” Bruce argued.  
“If the world needs us, we can come back together; otherwise, we should go our separate ways.” Steve said looking around at the rag tag group he had fought side by side with all day.  
“Hear hear.” Thor said, slapping a hand down on the table causing the owners to look over at them.  
“You don’t even live here.” Tony said, “How would we even contact you?”  
“You cannot, but Earth is always being watched, when something comes up that requires my attention, I can be sent back to take care of it. Now with the cube going back to Asgard, it will make travel to this realm a lot easier.”  
“How?” Tony asked.  
“I’m afraid I cannot explain it in your science terms. If Lady Jane were here, she could explain it in much detail.”  
“Who is Lady Jane?” Steve asked.  
Clint answered, “Jane foster, his girlfriend.”  
“Also, a genius in her own right, she is an American astrophysicist working on her theory of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge out of New Mexico.” Natasha added.  
“She is a fair maiden, far smarter than the average human.” Thor said.  
“She is also working for SHIELD now.” Clint said.  
“Well, then she can’t be that smart, can she?” Tony asked.  
“She joined SHIELD’s R&D department for reasons you wouldn’t understand Stark.” Natasha defended.  
Since Coulson convinced Darcy to help him convince Jane to submit to working for a federal agency, Coulson took it upon himself to introduce the two women to other female SHIELD employees, including Natasha. Actually, Coulson cashed in a favor so Natasha wouldn’t have any option but to help them out. She hated owing debts.  
“Do you have personal knowledge of her reasons?” Tony taunted.  
“That’s for me to know, and you never to find out.” She deadpanned.  
“Anyways,” Steve headed off Tony’s retort, “Thor is going home, and we’re going our separate ways until such time as we might be needed. If that time comes, how will all of us be reached?”  
“SHIELD.” Came the synchronized voices of Clint, Natasha and Bruce.

 

It turned out not to be SHIELD that called them back together, but Tony and Bruce. After Natasha and Steve exposed HYDRA within SHIELD’s ranks, she used some of her off the book resources to locate Clint who was away on an op and Steve worked with Sam to find Bucky. Bruce and Tony had been working together to try to find and expose different HYDRA bases. They used information gleamed from HYRDA agents captured from the day SHIELD fell, from information found on SHIELD’s protected servers but also from following radiation signatures that some of HYDRA’s weapons gave off.  
Every time they found a base, depending on the size, they would call on whichever of the team was available to take it out. Tony insisted on throwing a party every time they won a fight.   
By the time they had taken out five or six bases, all the Avengers were staying at the tower full time. Tony had redesigned parts of the tower to suit having the team there. The top ten floors were still R&D, but instead of the next two floors down being living suites, he made the next six floors into living suites.  
Every floor had multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, and an actual living room complete with big screen TVs, multiple gaming systems and a state of the art sound system. Stark knew how to make his guests comfortable. He took out several floors of offices to add in a gym, archery range, gun range (with multiple lanes of course) an indoor pool, and even a library that would put most small universities to shame.  
They had settled into a rhythm at the tower. Although they never came out and said what their relationship was, Natasha and Clint were sharing a floor which they added their own security measures too. Steve, Bruce and Maria Hill took the floor above theirs, which worked out quite well for them and for the team as that’s where they gathered for meals since Bruce and Steve cooked more than anyone else in the group. Thor had his own floor which he shared with Jane and Darcy when they came back into town. Of course, Tony and Pepper had a floor to themselves and another floor hosted any visiting friends of the Avengers, James Rhodes and Sam Wilson being the most common to crash there.  
It was after one of these parties, when everyone one was sitting around Clint and Natasha’s living room that Bruce came to realize he was a part of a family…a crazy dysfunctional potential time bomb of a family.  
Natasha, Clint and Rhodey were on one couch, Pepper, Tony and Maria were sharing another one while Sam, Thor and Jane took the final one, and Steve was in one of the arm chairs, leaving Bruce in the other chair while Darcy elected to sit on the arm of his chair.  
Bruce was watching the team, his team, sit around laughing while Maria and Clint told a story about a particularly dumb batch of SHIELD recruits they had one year while Natasha put in her own comments from time to time when Darcy nudged him.  
“You okay?”  
“Mhm, yeah, just thinking.”  
“The next base can wait Brucie, enjoy the party.” Tony said.   
“I am, I am.” He held up his drink, “See.”  
“I see a glass almost empty, and mine is completely empty.” Darcy said getting up, “Who wants another round?”  
When half the group held up their glasses for refills she grinned and nudged Bruce’s leg with her foot, “Come help.”  
He dutifully got up to help.  
Sam made a sound like a whip cracking which caused the guys to laugh.  
“What can I say guys, she wears the pants more than I do.”  
“Oh, a Hulk joke, really?” Steve said with a laugh.  
Bruce offered a smile and followed Darcy to the bar.  
“What’s really going on?” Darcy demanded.  
“I was thinking about how most of this group didn’t have a good home life when we were younger, and how this group is becoming almost family like.”  
“Yes Bruce, you have a family. Not a traditional family, by any means, but a family all the same.”  
“I believe it was Walt Disney who said, ‘Life is all about finding people who are your kind of crazy.’”  
“Well, you succeed.” She said.  
“What’s taking so long you guys?” Clint called.  
“Hold your horses, Hawkboy, we were having a moment.” Darcy called back.  
“Care to share with the class?” Tony asked as they made their way back to the group.  
“Not really, it was just an observation I made.” Bruce said.  
“Let’s hear it.” Sam said.  
“It’s okay Bruce, I’m sure most of them have already come to the same conclusion.” Darcy tried to coerce her boyfriend into telling them.  
“Okay, fine.” He sighed. “I remembered a quote I’d heard once from Disney, ‘Life is all about finding people who are your kind of crazy’ it got me thinking about how we are becoming more than a team, like maybe a strange family almost.”   
“You know, you have a point there.” Rhodes said.  
“So in the family, who is who?” Jane asked.  
“Well being the oldest, I guess that makes Steve the grandfather.” Tony said.  
“Really?” Steve asked.  
“I see him as the dad and Pepper as the mom.” Darcy said.  
“Well, I did raise Tony.” Pepper said accepting her role with a smile.  
“If you’re the mom, shouldn’t that make me the dad?” Tony asked.  
“Not necessarily.”   
“So Steve is the dad, Pepper is the mom, Tony and Bruce are totally the trouble making brothers.” Darcy started.  
“Twins, they could be twins.” Sam said.  
“So that would make Legolas the younger brother.” Tony interjected.  
“Since Natasha helps Steve and Pepper keep you three in line that would make her the older sister.” Jane added.  
“Maria could be the aunt, she’s strict about following mom’s rules, but she’s also will let you slide with certain things.” Clint said.  
“So do we have an uncle?” Bruce asked.  
“Fury.” Steve said.  
“How so?”  
“He’s like that weird old uncle who only shows up in times of family crisis’ or holidays.”  
“Good point.” Tony accepted.  
“Where do I fit into this family?” Thor asked.  
“You’re a cousin obviously.” Tony said.  
“A cousin?”  
“Yeah, you’re a member of the family who happens to live out of state but every time you come to visit the conversations pick right back up from before you left.”  
“Which makes Jane a cousin and Darcy is their kid, so a second cousin.” Rhodes said.  
“So you and Sam are brothers who happen to be so close to our family, you are basically two more kids for Steve and I to raise.” Pepper said.  
“You know, it amazes me that we spent less than ten minutes figuring out everyone’s place in the family and there wasn’t any major arguments about it.” Bruce pointed out.  
“Well, we’re all crazy enough, that it just works for us. This thing being that we are basically a family, like you said.” Darcy said poking Bruce in the arm.  
Bruce covered her hand with his own and smile at her.  
“So you’re dating your cousin.” Tony said.  
“You’re dating your mother.” Darcy retaliated.  
“Well, crap.” Tony said. “We really are a dysfunctional family.”  
“Yes we are.” Bruce said, giving the group a genuine smile.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him, he must regard himself as greater than he is.’ –Johann Goeth

Tony Stark was used to working on his own projects on his own time line. He didn’t like being told what to do, he never had. Things worked better for him if he was just left alone to figure things out on his own, at his own pace.   
The battle of New York changed that for him. Right after the battle he divided his time between Bruce and Pepper. He had managed to convince Bruce to stay in New York at the tower by giving him his own floor of labs as a thank you for saving him after he fell out of the portal opening. He was helping Bruce on a couple of ideas that had struck him during the battle and also helping Pepper redesign the damaged portions of the tower. He hosted several fundraising benefits for the city and put Bruce in charge of the New York labs while he and Pepper went back to California.  
In California, he was spending most of his time working on new suits. Every time he got a new idea for the suit, he would just build a new one. He was keeping an eye on Bruce as well, by video conferencing him almost every day to discuss some of the new ideas he was having for the suits and also for Bruce’s other guy problem. At night he spent time with Pepper before attempting sleep, ultimately giving up and heading back to his work shop. He was trying to work on new tech for Stark Industries between new suits, but he wasn’t having much luck since he couldn’t get the battle of New York off his mind.  
Then the fiasco with Aldrich Killian, losing the house and almost losing Pepper changed things. Suddenly he was living and working in New York full time, he didn’t have metal in his chest and he had blown up his suits. That freedom lasted a day after returning to New York, and then he was right back in the lab designing a new suit.  
He had two working suits when Pepper convinced him to work on something for the company, anything that would give them good press for benefitting humanity. She was not amused when he pointed out he did that when he sent that nuke into space. So he went back to working on multiple projects and also helping Bruce, rather he asked for it or not.   
Then SHIELD dropped in again and requested his help in a consulting role only. Tony upgraded some of their tech and designed some new pieces, just for them. Natasha dropped back in requesting an update for her widow’s bites so he spent a couple of days working on that project before Natasha left for a new mission with Steve.  
Bruce asked for his help in designing a cage for the Hulk, they named it Veronica and sent it into space.  
He also decided to make a giant suit which they named Hulkbuster and he even managed to get Bruce out on a little island, that Tony had purchased just for this type thing, to test it. They had just gotten back to New York when word came that there was trouble in Washington D.C. He was all set to fly off when he received a phone call from Maria Hill telling him the SHIELD had fallen and to stay in New York to keep an eye on Bruce.   
“What now?” Pepper asked as they sat around a large screen watching the news.  
“We wait.” Bruce said. “Wait for Natasha, Maria or Steve to get here and explain what happened.”  
“We know what happened, SHIELD was corrupted. Its dirty secrets are now on public display for the world to see.” Tony said.  
The very next morning, Maria showed up at the Tower with a suitcase, a couple of tablets, and a box of files she was able to get out before things went crazy.  
“There is barely anything left, Fury is gone, HYDRA is alive and stronger than ever with most of SHIELD’s knowledge, what’s left of SHIELD is spread out and the majority are in hiding.”  
“Well those that want to, are more than welcome to come work for Stark Industries, we will find a place for them.” Pepper offered.  
“I’ll get the word out, but most will probably go into another agency or retire.”   
“The offer stands, just send them here.”  
“Where are Steve and Natasha?” Bruce asked.  
“Steve and his new friend Sam are waiting for Natasha to reconnect with an old contact for a new lead on Bucky Barnes who we now know is the Winter Soldier.”  
“Where is Barton?” Tony asked.  
“He was sent on a mission right before all this went down, he was scheduled to return next week, but now…” she took a breath, “we have to hope he gets back on his own. SHIELD resources are gone; any agents that were in the field are on their own.”   
Pepper helped Maria get settled in at the tower and get her an interview with human resources, even though that was more of a formality than anything. They all knew Maria would be working there, but she wanted everything to be legal and proper so that Stark’s company lawyers could help defend her against the other intelligent agencies who wanted her head on a platter for her role in taking down SHIELD.   
“Stark, I need a favor.”  
“I don’t really do favors.”  
“Okay, then I’ll make it an order.”  
“You work for me now.”  
“No, I work for Pepper.”  
“Pepper’s mine.”  
“Yes she is.”  
“So what do you want?”  
“I need a secure phone and tablet.”  
“That’s it?” he walked over to a filing cabinet and opened a drawer. “Here, take your pick.” He walked away.  
“What is all this?”  
“Pick out the ones you want and I’ll show what it does. These are all pieces of Stark Tech, not yet ready to release to market. I just work on them in my spare time, not that I get much of that.”  
After Maria selected the ones she wanted she left them over night with Tony to update and finish working bugs out of.  
He spent the next day showing her the different features he had installed on them before she had to leave for a meeting with the NSA.   
When Steve and Natasha showed back up in New York, they had Sam Wilson with them, so of course Tony started updating Falcon’s wings. With Sam hanging out in the lab to watch, Tony completely took the wings apart and redesigned them with tips from Sam to make it smoother, easier, and lighter.  
It took them almost a week to settle on a set both men were happy with. It would have been less, but Sam kept getting Steve’s help in dragging Tony out of the lab to eat and sleep.  
“You can’t keep running like this Stark, you’ll give yourself a stroke.” Steve warned.  
“I’m fine, Spangles. Leave me be.”  
“Fine, but if you don’t take a break and join everyone for dinner, I’ll tell Pepper.”  
“That’s the best you got, threatening to tell my girlfriend on me for working, working on updates for all of you actually.”  
“We didn’t ask you to do that, the equipment we had was fine. It’s been serving us well.”  
“It’s outdated. If we’re going to go after Hydra, we have to be better.”  
Sam was standing back, watching the shouting match when a voice spoke up from behind him.  
“Glad to see some things never change.”  
“Barton, you’re back.” Steve said.  
“Way to state the obvious.”  
“Oh shut it Stark.”  
“Come this way Hawkboy, I have a surprise for you.” He turned to the others, “You can leave, this will take a little while.”  
“Dinner is at 6:30. Don’t be late.”  
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll be there.”  
Sam and Steve left the room as Tony motioned Clint to follow him to the other side of the lab.  
“I figured you would be back soon, and since I was already updating everyone else’s equipment and uniforms, I went ahead and did you too.” Tony said opening a big box.  
“That’s nice of you Stark, thanks.” Clint said pulling out an arrow and looking it over.  
“I talked to Natasha and Maria about what you currently had and after having Jarvis do research on arrow designs here we are.”  
“Wow, these are good. What are they?”  
“Well you have acid, explosive, grappling, electrical, flare, hacking, magnetic arrow heads to adhere to metal surfaces and also means it can be added to other arrows for combo attacks, net, putty arrows strong enough for rough surfaces and gumming up machinery, rocket arrowhead to boost the range of other arrows, an updated shrapnel arrow, smoke, sonic, suction cup, tear gas, and what took me the longest to work out, the boomerang arrowhead.”  
Clint blinked at him a couple of times, before returning the arrow he was holding to the case and shutting it.   
“I can’t wait to test these, thanks.”   
“We have an island for testing purposes, I’ve had the Hulk on it.”  
“Of course you have an island.”  
“Bruce said he wouldn’t release Hulk with people around, so I did what I had to.”  
“Where do you find time for all of this?” Clint asked motioning around the lab.  
“I wasn’t sleeping well for a while there.”  
“You know, when Coulson was trying to recruit me for SHIELD, he told me something that has stayed with me all these years. He said, ‘For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him, he must regard himself as greater than he is.’ It took me longer than I care to admit to understand what he was trying to tell me.”   
Clint shrugged his shoulders, “You don’t want people to know, but those close to you already know it, you are a good man, Tony. Not for your company, or any weapons systems you designed, or even for being Ironman, but because you have overcome your past. You had an experience that changed you and you worked to right the wrongs caused by your company, even though you were not involved or even aware of some of it. You do what is asked and what you see needs to be done, because you changed, because you care. You can’t change the past, but you can make the world better in spite of it.”  
“That’s the most I’ve ever heard you say.”  
Clint shrugged.  
“Thanks.”  
Natasha and Bruce choose that moment to make themselves known, having come in partway through Clint’s impromptu speech.  
“He’s right Tony, you’re a good guy.” Bruce said.  
“My assessment would be different now Stark.”  
“And I worked so hard for those labels.”  
“Oh you’re still self obsessed and volatile, but you have gotten better at playing with others.”  
“Well I do try.”  
“That’s because he has teammates now, and we can kick his butt if he acts up.” Clint said.  
“How about I take away the new tech I’ve given you.”  
“No. My arrows, I haven’t even gotten to play with them yet.” Clint said putting both hands on the case possessively.   
Tony arched and eyebrow at him and Bruce grinned openly.  
“So how many did you end up making?” Natasha asked.  
“Enough.” Stark said evasively.  
“They sound awesome, and he has an island I can use to test them on.”  
“Yes, I’ve heard about the island.”  
“What can I say; every great man deserves his own island.” Tony said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Unless someone cares a whole lot, it’s not going to get better.” –Dr. Seuss, the Lorax

“I know you’re up there.” She said looking up toward the roof tops along the alley she was walking through.  
She spun around and crouched low when she heard her stalker land behind her.  
“Now I’m down here.” He had his hands up in the air, his weapon slung across his back.  
Slowly she stood up, looking him over. “You’re shorter than I thought.”  
“You’re younger than I thought.”  
“Who sent you?”  
He pierced her with a stare,” SHIELD.”  
“So why am I still here?”  
“Honestly? I’m not sure.” He through her off guard when he let out a chuckle. “I was sent to take you down, but things changed.”  
She stared at him, waiting for him to continue while she finished formulating a plan of attack and escape.  
“I’ve been following you for two days now, I saw you with those kids. You’re not a killing machine, Widow.”  
She wasn’t expecting a statement like that, but she didn’t let that stop her from going through with her plan. She walked closer to him, noting how his body tensed just a fraction.  
“You can be better than what you are now, if you want.” He said taking a deep breath, already knowing she was planning on attacking.  
“Is that so?” she asked before attacking.  
She was quicker but he had more upper body strength. They blocked each other’s blows until he managed to get both hands on her upper shoulders and push her back into the wall. She tried to knee him but he twisted one of his legs to block it with his own knee. She hooked one leg around his other one and tried to pull it out so he would fall away from her but all she managed to do was get it to buckle just a bit, he was still able to maintain his hold on her.   
“Be still.” He told her, resting more weight on her. “Even though you attacked me, I want to offer you a job. Come to SHIELD and you can be my partner.”   
She stopped struggling, “SHIELD wants me dead.”  
“Yes, they do; at one point they wanted me dead as well. The agent that brought me in made a different call, now I’m returning the favor.”   
“I don’t know what you think you know about me, but I can’t change.”  
“Everyone can change, if they care enough to try.”  
“Not me, I’m not like most people.”  
“I know that, which is how I know you can change. Despite what your file says about you, I saw you at that shelter. I saw you helping those kids. And I know about the dog.”  
She caught his eye on that one, but stayed silent.  
“You have a choice to make, you can walk away from this life and join me at SHIELD or I can kill you now. What’ll it be Widow?”  
“I think custom is to let the person have a little time to think about taking a new job offer, so I’ll need a day to think about it.”  
“So you can skip town, or come after me in my sleep?” he laughed, “I think not.”  
She actually relaxed just a hair at his laugh. Anyone in their line of work, who could still find laughter in the things around them, was a foreign concept to her. She narrowed her eyes which caused the grin to slide off his face.  
“Fine, I accept your job offer.”  
He looked her over, searching her face for what, she didn’t know, before letting a smile come over his feature again.  
“Coulson is going to flip.” He released her and took a half step back.  
“Coulson?”  
“My handler, Agent Coulson, he is also the one who brought me in.”  
“If he is your handler, shouldn’t he been somewhere nearby or listening in remotely.”  
“Who says he isn’t?”  
She lifted one eyebrow, and one side of her mouth twitched as well.  
“So where too?” she asked.

 

“She’s a Russian assassin.”  
“And I’m an American assassin, what’s your point?”  
“We don’t know why she’s here.”  
“She wants to change sides.”  
“Change sides? What are we a football league?”  
“We could be.”  
“Barton.”  
“Oh come on Coulson, you gave me a second chance. Why not her?”  
“That was different.”  
“How?”  
“You’ve seen her file, you know what she’s done, what she is capable of.”  
“Files can be wrong, she could have killed me in that alley. We both know she wasn’t using all her skill, she wasn’t even breathing hard when I pinned her.”  
“She could just be playing you, playing SHIELD.”  
“I don’t believe she is.”  
“And you know best do you?”  
“Well I like to think so.”  
Coulson rolled his eyes before he sighed.  
“Fine, I’ll talk to Fury, vouch for her and your state of mind.”  
“Thanks, Phil.”  
“Don’t thank me yet.”

It was a couple of days later when Clint finally found time to check his email. Opening one from Phil Coulson, he grinned and hit print.  
When Widow, now being called Natasha, was finally released from SHIELD’s psych ward she was given temporary quarters just down the hall. Clint escorted her to her new room and stopped just inside the door while she looked around her new living space.  
It was bare, a bed attached to the wall with a dresser and night stand. It was the frame on the nightstand that caught her attention. She walked over and picked it up.  
“‘Unless someone cares a whole lot, it’s not going to get better.’ –Dr. Seuss, The Lorax” she read out loud.  
“Do you really believe this?” she asked.  
“Yeah, I do. I’m living proof of it.”  
She set the frame back down, “I hope I will be too, one day.”  
“You already are.” He said softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.” –H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Pepper had spent ten years as Tony Stark’s personal assistant before her sudden promotion to CEO of his company, Stark Industries. She spent the next two years being his boss, before she tried to quit as CEO and wound up still in charge and in a relationship with Tony. Now they had been dating for four years and she wasn’t the only person in his life anymore.   
Now he had a team, a team of super heroes who lived part time in their New York Tower, or in the case of Dr. Bruce Banner, lived full time there. Tony paid for everything, outfitted everyone with updated tech, and made them all look cooler in the eyes of the media and he was happy doing it.   
She had spent years watching him make weapons and other tech for the military, and then later make his Ironman suits.   
Now he was routinely updating the War Machine suit for Rhodey, designing new arrows for Hawkeye, tweaking Steve’s suit, working on who knows what with Bruce and Natasha even let him update her widow bites. The only one he hadn’t been able to do much to was Thor, and most of that was because the Asgardian Prince was rarely on Earth.   
Pepper never approved of him becoming Ironman six years ago. She had realized several years before that she had feelings for Tony, but could never admit them to anyone, lest they get back to Tony. She had tried to quit several times, but he always did something to make her stay. Then Afghanistan happened and she was devastated at the thought of never seeing him again. Thankfully Tony paid her really well so she didn’t have to find a job during those three months. She was able to sit in her apartment and watch the news while thinking about what could have been.  
Then he came back a changed man, he was trying to change for the better and she loved him even more for it. Then she found him with the suit and she couldn’t believe it. She hated that he thought he personally had to protect the world, that he had to right whatever Stane had messed up. He took every death he could trace back to his illegally acquired weapons personally. She knew it tore him up inside, and she wished she could help him more.  
Then New York happened and he gained another new purpose in life. He wasn’t just a consultant for SHIELD anymore; he was an asset along most of his new team.   
He had proved himself when he went with that nuke into space. Now she had to share him with others, and although she didn’t always like it, she loved him and if he was happy that was what mattered to her.  
Tony and Thor bonded over alcohol. Tony threw a party on one of Thor’s trips to Earth and introduced him to every type of alcohol Tony’s personal bar had to offer. On his next trip, Thor brought some of his local mead with him. Tony got messed up after a couple of glasses, it was so strong. Even though she didn’t understand it, apparently this was a big bonding point for them. They even shared pop tarts the next morning.

Steve showed up at the Malibu house after spending several weeks on the road, crisscrossing the country. Pepper showed him into the house and led him down to Tony’s workshop.   
“So this is where the genius happens.” He said looking around.  
“Spangles. What are you doing here?”  
“Uh, I’m not sure actually. I started in New York three weeks ago and now I’m here.”  
“Well, we’re glad you made it safely.” Pepper broke in.  
“Thank you ma’am.”  
“He survived an alien attack, I’m sure he can handle backwoods U.S. of A.”   
“You know, I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”  
“Don’t spread it around, I’m still a little addled from saving the world.”  
Steve turned to Pepper, “How often does he bring that up?”  
“At least once every conversation.” She smiled.  
“No, no, no. None of that?”  
“None of what?”  
“Tony doesn’t want me bonding with his team.”  
“Not true.”  
“I’ve got work to do, so you boys have fun.” She turned to go upstairs, “I apologize in advance for whatever he may say to you, Steve.”  
“I’m learning not to take it at face value.”  
“Yeah, yeah. Are we still on for dinner later?”  
“I’ll make enough for Steve to join us.”  
“Oh, no I don’t want to intrude.”  
“Nonsense.” Pepper said going back upstairs.  
Steve dropped by unannounced several times, between missions for SHIELD. Since New York, Tony had been distant with Pepper, but every time Steve left he was back to himself for at least a couple of days. She wished she could be enough to bring him out of his moods, to help him heal from what he went through, but Tony wouldn’t let her. He kept her at arm’s length, even though he continued to tell her he loved her. She had to trust Steve to help him. She understood that they had this shared experience, that they had some sort of weird connection from Howard Stark, that Steve could help him when she couldn’t.   
That doesn’t mean that she had to like it, but slowly he was improving and that was what mattered to her.

Clint had listened to Natasha complain about Tony Stark while she was undercover. He thought Stark was a spoiled man child, but man did he have the coolest toys. After they had to move to the New York tower, Clint made it his mission to drop by the tower all the time. It started as a request for Tony to update his arrow heads and led to gaming sessions on the big screen.  
They were in the common living area, trading insults while their fingers clicked rapidly on their controllers. Pepper came in and sat down beside Tony on the couch.  
“Haha! Take that.”  
“Damn assassin.”  
Clint put aside his controller and hopped up, “I’m getting a drink, want something?”  
Tony looked over at Pepper, “We’re good.”  
Clint shrugged his shoulders and left.  
“Having fun?”  
“I’m going to write new codes for the game, give me a chance against Barton. What’s up, Pep?”  
“Nothing, I just wanted to be with you.”  
“Well, if that’s what you want, I’ll ditch the game and we can go upstairs.” He waggled his eyebrows.  
She laughed, “That’s okay, enjoy your game.” She leaned in and kissed him.  
“I’d enjoy you more.”  
“Don’t you know it.” She smiled.  
He stood up, “let’s go.”  
She grabbed his hand and pulled him back down to the couch.   
“Stay, finish your game.”  
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and leaned in to whisper in her ear, “I’d rather play with you.”  
They were just starting a make out session when Clint walked back in with a bottle of water.  
“If you don’t cool it, I’ll be forced to pour this on you.”  
“Just because you and Widow don’t believe in PDA, doesn’t mean the rest of us have that same issue.”  
“Tony.” Pepper smacked him lightly.   
“I’m going to my office.” Pepper said getting up. She had almost made it to the elevator, when Clint called for her to wait.  
“You don’t have to leave, I can go.”  
“He needs this right now.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“He has this connection with the Avengers, you went through something together that I cannot begin to understand. As independent as he has always had to be, he trusts you guys to watch his back.”  
“Well it took a minute, but we trust him too.”  
“I know. What I don’t know is how you two can sit for hours and play those games.”  
“They’re fun.”  
“That’s what he says. I know that it doesn’t matter what game you two play, he sleeps easier afterwards. Something about the experience relaxes him. I’m thankful for that.”  
“It helps me too, but don’t tell him that. I’ll never hear the end of it.”  
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” She got on the waiting elevator as Clint went back to his game.

Not that either would admit it, but Tony and Natasha had a connection. Even though he saw her as a double agent when she was spying on him for SHIELD, after New York they became friends. Natasha found herself seeking out Tony, if just for a verbal sparring match. Tony loved to talk and interrupting him became one of Natasha’s favorite things to do in her down time. She was full of dry wit and it gave everyone a laugh when she made Tony lose his train of thought, however short lived it might be. She was also making it a habit to pop up around him every time she dropped by the tower and scare him. 

Even with the other Avengers popping in and out of his life, Tony was being helped most by Bruce. Tony had found a kindred spirit in the quiet doctor. Whether they were working on the same project or their own personal projects, they had this intellectual connection. Although Tony had gifted Bruce his own lab at the Tower, they spent a good majority of their time working in a shared lab one floor down. Pepper suspected that until he met and worked with Bruce on finding the Tesseract, he had never noticed just how much intellectual segregation he was experiencing. They shared snacks, research, tools and thoughts, even finishing each other’s sentences as if they had worked together for years.   
Bruce was able to argue and cajole Tony into doing things in a way that Pepper had spent years trying to figure out. She did have to deal with an increase of explosions in the labs, but Tony always had a grin when he talked about the furthering of their research.   
Even though their talk usually went straight over her head, she always found herself smiling at how animated they would get talking about it. She referred to Bruce as his brother which led to Tony labeling them Science Bros. More than once she would find them asleep in the lab, one on the couch and one in a chair usually both would have papers piled around them. Bruce would wake up first, years of living on the run, making him a light sleeper. He would go ahead and head to his bedroom while she woke Tony up. He never had nightmares on those nights, so fetching him from the lab was a small price to pay in her opinion.  
“Hey Pepper, can I ask you something?” Bruce asked her one night when she came to get Tony.  
“Of course, Bruce. What has Tony done now?”  
“Nothing, I’ve been wondering something actually…Do you mind how much time Tony spends in the lab?”  
“Tony has spent most of his life in workshops or labs, so I’m used to it by now.”  
“I understand that, I guess what I’m actually wondering, is do you mind sharing him with the rest of us?”  
“Honestly, sometimes I do. It’s selfish of me, but I do. You guys are helping him in ways that I can’t, and parts of me are jealous. But working with you makes him happy.”  
“Love is when the other person’s happiness means more than your own, Jackson Brown junior once said.”  
Unbeknownst to the two, Tony was listening to their conversation.  
“She is too good for me.” Tony spoke up.  
“She really is.” Bruce agreed with a grin.  
“Oh hush you two.” Pepper rolled her eyes.  
After overhearing her conversation with Bruce, Tony knew he had to do something for Pepper, to show she was still important to him. So Tony made arrangements for them to take a weekend trip to Hvar on Croatia’s Mediterranean coast.  
“You didn’t have to do this.” She said as they sat on their private deck sharing a bottle of wine with dinner.   
“I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate you.”  
“I know you do.”  
“You are the most important person in my life Pepper. I know I haven’t been the easiest person since New York, so I’m glad you’re still here.”  
“I’m not going anywhere Tony. I’ve stuck with you this long, why would I leave?”  
“I haven’t been spending much time with you over the last few months and I’m sorry about that.”  
“You’ve been working on getting better, Tony. That’s what matters. Your team is helping you get through your PTSD, and even if you don’t see it, you are helping them too.”  
“Have I told you how amazing you are lately?”  
“Not today.” She smiled.  
“You are an amazing person, Virginia Potts.”  
“You’re not so bad yourself Tony.”  
“I mean it, you put up with so much in dealing with me. I never would have made it this far in my life without you. Now instead of just me, there are six of us coming in and out of the tower. Of course they aren’t me, but I’m hard to live up too.”  
“Yes you are.”  
“Thank you, Pepper, for everything.”  
“You’re welcome Tony.”  
“Why do you do it? Why put up with everything?”  
“I love you Tony, more than I ever thought I could love anyone, in spite of your faults. These people are your team; I trust them to have your back, to bring you home to me.   
“But are you happy?”  
“As long as you are happy, that’s what matters.”  
“Not to me.”  
“Well it is to me.”  
“Stubborn.”  
“I learned from the best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘I sat alone in bed ‘til morning  
> “I’m crying, ‘They’re coming for me”  
> And I tried to hold these secrets inside me  
> My mind’s like a deadly disease.’  
> \--Halsey Control

For Steve, he is Bucky Barnes, his best friend from his childhood. In the spy world, he is known as the Winter Soldier, a soviet assassin who is believed responsible for hits dating since WWII. Natasha knows him as James, one of her trainers from the Red Room program and the only one she holds any affection for.   
They had a short, intense secret affair. Then he let his emotional attachment for her show through one day and he underwent a recalibration, she never saw him again. She graduated from the Red Room with the highest marks ever recorded there. She let the anger she held for her life fuel her, she used it to excel. She became more than they ever hoped she could be.   
Until she met Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton, the SHIELD archer who intrigued her enough to override her kill instincts. He eventually convinced her to switch sides and join him at SHIELD. She went through a year of tests and interviews while SHIELD worked their way through all of her mental Red Room blocks. She endured hundreds of tests to flush out any hidden programs they might have put in her mind.   
While she was undergoing SHIELD tests and evaluations, Clint made it his mission, while not on actual SHIELD missions, to acclimate Natasha to American food, movies, music, sayings, jokes, basically whatever came up in conversation that he felt she needed to know.   
It was one of these days after Thai takeout that Clint was watching her do a modified workout routine in her small room.   
She threw her towel at the wall when she was finished, “I hate this!”  
“What?” Clint was sitting on her bed playing a game on the tablet.  
“I cannot get a decent workout in here, you keep bringing me food and I’m going soft.”  
“You’re not going soft.”  
“Yes I am”  
This led to Clint getting permission to take her to the gym after hours to spar with her, which brought them another layer of trust.  
Eventually it all come to fruit and she was made a SHIELD agent and partnered with the one man whom she trusted over anyone else at this point, Clint Barton.  
“So, let’s go celebrate.” Clint said as they left the director’s office upon receiving the news.  
‘Am I allowed off base?”   
“You’re an agent now.”  
She raised an eyebrow.  
“Well he didn’t say you couldn’t.”  
“Lead the way, Hawk.”  
“When are you going to start calling me Clint?”  
“Let’s see how tonight goes.”  
“Guess I better show you a good time.”  
“I’m counting on it.”  
There worked numerous missions together as part of Strike Team Delta. Clint knew all of her secrets and she knew his, they became SHIELD legends and more than lived up to the hype. They worked well apart, but best when they were together.  
They made it to year five of Natasha becoming an Agent before they gave into their mutual desires for each other and slept together.   
Surprisingly, it didn’t change their working dynamic …well it barely changed. They still worked well together in the field and still spent all their time together when not on missions. The only noticeable change was they had an even deeper understanding of each other’s thoughts and feelings. They moved in sync, even when a mission took a turn for the worst they didn’t show surprise of each other’s movements, they made adjustments to the plan to support each other even without communicating.  
They had separate quarters in all SHIELD facilities, and although Clint had his off the books family farm in Iowa, they accepted Pepper Potts and Tony Stark’s offer of their own floor in his New York Tower after the Battle of New York. They never made an announcement that they were together, but everyone understood that they were a matching set.   
Clint was more trusting of their new teammates than Natasha was, but she was trying. Steve Rogers was the first to earn her trust, which led to them starting to take missions for SHIELD together. Bruce Banner was the next she began to trust. Although weary at first, she began to trade herbal teas and books with him as a way to find common ground to build a friendship. For some reason he told her things he didn’t share with other people and she found it easier to share some of her past in return. She trusted Thor to come back to Earth when they really needed him too and in his declaration that he would die for any one of them. She still thought of Tony as a wild card, but he had proven that he was capable of change. She knew he was trying to do better for Pepper’s sake. The only person Tony truly wanted to change for was his girlfriend, but that was enough for Natasha whom had changed herself for Clint.  
Clint was on a deep undercover mission when Natasha took a mission with Steve and things went to hell in a hand basket. SHIELD fell apart as HYDRA reared its head; she dumped SHIELD’s secrets on the internet for everyone to see, and Bucky Barnes showed back up.  
After trying to kill them several times, injuring Nick Fury to the point that he was able to fake his death and go into hiding, Bucky still managed to come back to his senses and rescue Steve after they fell into the Potomac when Maria fired on the carrier they were on.  
He left Steve on the bank and disappeared, so of course Steve wanted to go after him. Natasha pulled a favor from an old acquaintance and found a file on Bucky which she gave to Steve and his new friend Sam ‘Falcon’ Wilson.  
“If he is starting to remember his time from before the Winter Soldier, you should wait for him to come to you. Saying that, good luck fellas.”  
It took Sam until after the events of Ultron and getting Sokovia back on track to find Bucky. He called Steve to a warehouse in Brooklyn where there held Bucky, his metal arm in a vice, to help deprogram him.  
It was another month before Steve trusted Bucky was back, trusted him enough to bring him to the tower. Sam sent Natasha a txt message, letting her know they were a couple of blocks away. She had Jarvis alert Tony and Bruce, who came out of their labs and met her in the common living room. They stood in the center of the room, waiting on the elevator to come to a stop.   
Sam stepped off first, followed by Bucky with Steve bringing up the rear. There was a moment of silence as the two scientists took in Bucky for the first time.   
“So this is the Winter Soldier.” Tony said.  
“No.” Bucky said, he scanned the room and Natasha stepped out of a connecting doorway into his line of sight. “Natalia.”  
“Hello James.”  
He walked past the others and right up to Natasha.  
“Um, I take it you two know each other?” Tony asked.  
“You could say that.” Natasha said still not taking her eyes off of Bucky.  
He reached out to touch her face and she flinched, causing him to freeze and step away from her.  
“I’m sorry, Natalia.”  
She offered a small smile before Bruce broke the silence.  
“So, where are you staying?”  
Bucky turned back to the others and walked back to Steve’s side.  
“If it’s okay with you guys, I was thinking he could stay on my floor.”   
Again it was Bruce who spoke, Tony staying uncharacteristically silent.  
“Do you think that’s wise, Steve? No offense.”  
“I trust him, after everything we’ve been through, you should trust me on this.”  
“We do, jeez. Relax Capsicle.” Tony said walking to the bar. “Drink?”  
The rest of the afternoon was spent just hanging out, they ordered pizza for dinner and ate on the couches so they could watch a movie. Well, some of them watched the movie, Natasha and Bucky kept looking at each other. Tony and Bruce headed back to the lab after the movie and Sam went to the gym.   
Steve left Natasha and Bucky alone for several minutes to go get his sketch pad from his room, since Bucky didn’t seem inclined to leave her presence just yet. When he returned it was to find them standing next to the couch in an embrace.   
“I can go back to my room if you want the space.” Steve spoke, startling them.   
“It’s fine Steve, just reliving some memories.” Natasha said stepping away from Bucky. “I’m going to bed.”  
Bucky stepped forward and wrapping his arms around her waist tugged her, none to gently, into him and kissed her.  
“Bucky!” Steve said in shock.  
Instead of trying to break his hold, she slid her hands into his hair and returned the kiss. Bucky finally pulled away from her body, although they never broke eye contact.  
“Goodnight Natasha.” He said in a husky tone.  
“Night James.” She turned and headed for the elevator. “Steve.”  
“Goodnight.” Steve said as she walked away. He turned back to Bucky but Bucky was already walking to the bar. “What the hell, Buck?”  
“You wouldn’t understand, Steve. Just leave it.”  
“She’s involved with someone else.”

 

Up several floors Natasha was sitting on her couch, replaying the events of the afternoon in her mind. At some point she drifted off into a restless doze, waking up less than an hour later covered in sweat and gasping for breath.  
She sat on the couch with her head in her hands, trying to regain her breathing. It had been several years since she had had a nightmare induced panic attack.   
“Damn.” She muttered.   
She didn’t get anymore rest that night, and didn’t go down for breakfast the next morning either. When noon came and went without a peep out of Natasha, Steve began to get worried. He left Bucky in the gym with Sam and took the elevator to Natasha’s floor. When the elevator stopped, the door didn’t open.  
“Miss. Romanoff isn’t accepting visitors at this time.” Said Jarvis.  
“Natasha!” Steve knocked on the door a couple of times.  
“What do you want Steve?” came her voice through the steel frame.  
“Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine.” She said, glad Steve didn’t have her training, so he didn’t notice the slight hitch in her voice.  
“I don’t believe you, but I’m going to trust you.” He stepped away from the door and had it take him to Bruce’s lab.  
“Bruce, can I talk to you for a minute?”  
“Sure thing Steve.” Bruce said tapping on one of his monitors a few times before giving Steve his undivided attention.  
“Something is going on with Natasha.” Steve bluntly put it out there.  
“Well her old boyfriend just showed back up in her life, and after trying to kill her several times is now living just a couple of floors away from her. I’d be more surprised if she didn’t react at all.”  
“I walked in on her and Bucky kissing last night.”  
Bruce stared at him for a moment. “She in her room?”  
“She’s on her floor, but Jarvis isn’t letting anyone in, I had to talk to her through the elevator door.”  
“I’ll go.” Bruce said already heading for the door.  
When the elevator stopped on her floor, Bruce knocked on the door before speaking.  
“Natasha.”  
“Bruce?”  
“Do you need anything?”  
He heard a slightly high pitched strangled giggle.  
“I’m fine.”  
“No you’re not, but that’s okay. You are entitled, more than any of us I think, to an off day. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything.” He said before having the elevator take him up to his lab floor again. The door opened but he didn’t step off.  
“Jarvis, where is Tony?”  
“Mr. Stark is currently in Lab C.”  
“Thanks.” Bruce pushed a button. He needed Tony’s help.

“Tony, we need to find Clint.”  
“He’s undercover again.”  
“I know, but this is more important than whatever Fury has him doing. Natasha needs him.”  
Tony finally stopped tinkering with the machine he had been working on and stared at Bruce, catching the hard set of Bruce’s face.  
“Jarvis, start a trace for Clint. “Use everything you can access.”  
“Yes sir.”  
“So what’s going on?”  
“She won’t come out of her room and has had Jarvis block access to her floor. Steve and I both talked to her through the door, but she will not let us in, keeps insisting she’s fine.”  
“Maybe she’s having her time of the month.”  
“Really Tony.”  
“What she’s a woman.”  
“Thanks for that observation, I never noticed that before.”  
“Jeez, sarcastic much.”  
“Sorry, she’s never withdrawn like this, I’m worried.”  
“And I have something to do.” Tony said walking out.  
Not even ten minutes later the elevator stopped at Natasha’s floor.  
“Miss. Romanoff, there is a present from Mr. Stark in the elevator.”  
“I don’t want it. Take it away.”  
A few minutes later the elevator was back and the doors opened.  
“Damn you Stark, I said I don’t want it. Go away!” she screamed.  
Inside the elevator was one of Tony’s robots carrying a tray. It ignored her shouting and rolled over to where she was still curled up on the couch. She threw the blanket off to accept the tray which she proceeded to place on the coffee table.   
“Go away.” She said to the robot, which actually did get back on the elevator.  
She opened the bottle of Russian vodka and drank straight from the bottle. She drank almost half the bottle before falling into sleep. She wasn’t asleep long before she had another dream.

This time, she had never turned her back on Russia, instead she killed Clint and rose to a position of power with in Red Room, working missions for her motherland and coming home to James afterwards. She woke up in a sweat, tangled in the blankets she had been thrashing around in.   
“Sir, Mr. Barton is in Casablanca.”  
“Casablanca?” Bruce asked.  
“I’ll go get him.” Tony said.  
“What the hell are you doing here?” Barton said approaching Tony outside a little café.  
“I came to get you actually, you’re welcome.”  
“I’m on a mission, Stark.” He hissed at Tony.   
“It’s Natasha.” Tony said watching Clint’s whole demeanor change.   
“What happened?”  
“She’s still at the Tower, she has barricaded herself in on your floor. She keeps shouting she’s fine every time someone tries to check on her.”  
“What changed?”  
“Steve brought Bucky to stay at the Tower.”  
“He did what? Why would he do that to her?”  
“He asked permission first, she said it was fine with her.”  
“Of course she did.” He resigned himself to what he needed to do. “Take me home.”  
Tony had brought an extra suit for Clint to fly home, although Jarvis did the actual piloting. When they got back to the tower, they were met by the others.   
“You must be James.”  
Bucky nodded his head, “You’re Natasha’s partner.”  
“Yes.”  
“She still won’t talk to us.” Steve said, stepping slightly between the two former assassins who were glaring at each other.  
Clint turned and headed to the elevator, pushing the button for their floor. When the doors didn’t open he knocked once and called out to her.  
“Tasha?”  
He waited for her to respond, but didn’t hear anything.  
“Jarvis, let me in, now.”  
The doors opened, and in the space of three seconds, he took in the room. There were blankets on the couch, pillows on the floor, a half empty bottle of vodka on the coffee table, and one of the walls had maybe a dozen knives sticking from it but with several dozen more holes from where she was using the same knives to throw.   
“Jesus, Nat.” he muttered. He heard water running so he made his way to the master bath, where he found Natasha.   
She was sitting on the floor of the shower, cold water pounding down on her.  
Clint stepped in and turned the water off before joining her on the floor. She turned her head and looked at him and he saw she had been crying.  
“Hey.” He said.  
“You’re back.”  
He shrugged, “missed you.”  
To his surprise, her eyes actually watered in response.  
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m home, you’re home.” He maneuvered around so he could slide an arm around her shoulders and one under her knees, lifting her up he placed her back down on the edge of the sink.  
She was shaking and taking quick shallow breaths by the time he wrapped a towel around her. He stood there silently slowly drying her off. Suddenly she took a gasping breath and shoved him away from her. He put his back right up against the wall and held his hands up, but kept his eyes on her face. To her credit, she was maintaining eye contact with him.  
Maybe a minute had passed before Clint took a chance and walked back to her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest even as she started struggling to be free. He had her arms pinned between their bodies so she was using her legs primarily to try to fight him off, his arms too strong for her to break his grip. He held her and muttered soothing things in her ear even as she struggled. Eventually she regained control over her body and stopped trying to get away. She sagged into him and planted a kiss on his collarbone, through his wet clothes.  
“Welcome back.” He said relaxing his grip slightly.  
“Thanks.” She said. “You need to get out of these wet clothes.”  
He leaned back and looked down at his clothes before shrugging.  
“Come on, I need some clothes too.” She said.  
They went into their room and both put on sweats and tee shirts. Clint laid across their bed while Natasha went to brush out her hair. When she came back, she laid down next to him.  
“What’s going on Tasha?”  
She stared at the ceiling, “I’ve been having panic attacks.”  
“Why?”  
“I thought I could handle it, but I guess I’m not as strong as I thought I was.”  
He turned on his side and wrapped one arm around her waist.  
“You’re the strongest person I know.”  
“James is here. You know my past, what he meant to me. Seeing him brought my past back to the forefront of my mind, I couldn’t push it back down. I wasn’t able to sleep because of the nightmares and when I do doze off I awaken to panic seizing me. Out of everything I’ve been through, why is this affecting me so much?”  
Clint offered a half shrug and shook his head slightly when she finally turned her head to look at him.  
“I don’t know. I guess because your memories of him are so entwined with your memories of the Red Room, you can’t just remember the good times you had with him without remembering the bad as well. Your memories and feelings are battling with each other.”  
She rolled on her side and tucked herself into him. He placed a kiss to her hair and tightened his grip on her.  
“I love you Clint.”   
“Love you too, Natasha.” He kissed her head again, “now get some sleep.”

The next morning she woke up feeling more refreshed than she had in a couple of days. As she watched Clint continue to sleep, she thought back over their time together.   
“Morning.” Clint said not even opening his eyes.  
She leaned over him and placed a kiss on his cheek, “thanks.”  
He opened his eyes, “I’ll always be here for you.”  
“I know.” She laid back down using his chest as a pillow.   
They got up officially about an hour later and Clint convinced her to join him in the common kitchen.  
“I have it on good authority that Bruce is making waffles and Steve found a sale on honeydew melons this morning.”  
“Really?” she smiled. “I guess we should go join them then.”  
When they got off the elevator everyone else was already there. They took what had become their usual seats at the table and Bruce sat plates in front of them.  
After eating for several minutes, while everyone made chit chat, Tony asked the question everyone was wondering.  
“So what’s going on?”  
Natasha rolled her eyes but knew they would gang up on her if she ignored him.  
“I’m fine.”  
“Maybe now, we brought your cure home. What was going on before?”  
“Nothing, I wasn’t feeling well, but I’m fine now.”  
“Natasha?” Steve prompted softly.  
She stood up and turned to Bucky, “Can I speak to you alone?” she turned to Clint, “You too?”  
They both stood up and followed her to the elevator, which took them to the roof.  
“You taught me how to survive.” She started, talking to Bucky. “I fell in love with you during a dark time in both our lives and I’ll never forget that. But that was a long time ago and I’ve changed, for the better I think. I turned my back on everything you and I were training and fighting for, I joined SHIELD and for the most part I haven’t looked back, until now. Clint brought me out of that darkness and helped me make a life that I wanted, not one someone else picked out for me. I found a home, a real home with him and with this rag tag group of people we call friends. I’m sorry James, but I’ve moved on.”  
She took a deep breath before continuing, “I’m glad you’re here and that you’re finding your way also, but I’m going to need my space. You staying here has jumbled my mind again, I haven’t had any panic attacks since I first swapped sides. I want to be your friend, and I’ll help you when I can, but I’m going to have to take this one day at a time.”   
“That’s the most I’ve heard you say in a very long time. I know I overstepped a line the other night, but I’m not sorry about it. If you don’t want to resume anything with me, I will survive. I’ll go away if that’s what you want me to do. I didn’t want to cause trouble.”  
“I want you to stay, James. I just need to work through this. I’m having nightmares and need to work through them.”  
“And the archer will help you with that?”  
“Of course.” Clint said stepping toward Bucky.  
“Clint.” Natasha said, causing him to stop moving.  
Bucky planted himself in front of Natasha, “I’ll do whatever you need me too, Natalia.”  
“Don’t call me that. It’s Natasha Romanoff now.”  
Bucky gave her a weak smile and nodded, “yeah it is.” He went back to the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Every good and excellent thing stands moment by moment on the razor’s edge of danger and must be fought for.”

Thanks to the Black Widow, everyone in the world, at least those with an internet connection or access to the news, had seen SHIELD fall. They had been able to read all of SHIELD’s secrets, right there in black and white, they had learned just how close the horrors of their imaginations had come to being a reality right here on the streets of the USA.   
And it didn’t change a thing for most people. They still went on doing their usual things, not caring what the consequences of their actions might be. It was a good thing that there were still heroes working to keep them safe.  
SHIELD was being reformed in deeper shadows than HYDRA ever imagined, but in the newspapers it was the Avengers who were keeping them safe. Just about every day there was something in one of the media outlets about one of the Avengers. Sometimes it was just gossip, other times it was actual newsworthy stories.

“Hey Maria, who made it this time?” Clint asked as the team gathered for a briefing.   
“Let me guess, Spangles made it for rescuing a kitten from a tree.” Tony interjected.  
“That was one time, Tony.” Steve protested.  
“Actually the only one I saw mentioned was Bruce.” Maria interrupted. “His latest scientific research paper was published.”  
“Way to go Bruce.” Clint said.  
Bruce leaned back in his chair and shrugged, “Thanks, but I didn’t submit a paper.”  
Everyone turned to Tony.  
“I didn’t do it. I hate paperwork, why would I write a paper?”  
“I wrote it, but I never submitted it.” Bruce said.  
“I told you it was a good paper.” Natasha said. “Your peers agree with me.”  
“Thank you.” Bruce said.  
“If we can get back to the matter at hand,” Maria started before the meeting completely broke down, “We have a possible location of a HYDRA base.”  
Three days later the Avengers were landing on the helio pad on the side of Stark Tower when Maria went outside to meet them along with Pepper.  
“What are they saying?” Steve asked walking up to Maria as the others headed in.  
“Not much, just a story on some fundraiser SI is doing. They haven’t caught wind of the events of the last few days.”   
Steve leaned down and kissed her, “Good.”

 

“So there has been an interview request for all of you to appear on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show.” Pepper said as the group sat down to dinner.  
“I love him.” Tony said.  
“Me too.” Clint added through a mouthful of pasta.  
“Why?” Steve asked.  
“Because you’re heroes.” Maria stated.  
“If we do this, I vote Maria and Pepper have to do it with us.” Clint said.  
“No.” Maria and Pepper said together.  
“This is a democracy still, let’s vote. Everyone in favor of Pep and Maria joining raise your hand.” Tony said.  
Everyone raised their hand.  
“Okay, the ayes have it.” Tony remarked.  
Pepper and Maria shared a look before resigning themselves to doing this.

 

“Tonight we have some very important guests, your favorite heroes and mine, The Avengers…and their handlers!” Jimmy yelled over the roar from his crowd.  
They exchanged pleasantries and everyone took their seats, Natasha, Maria and Pepper were on a couch while Clint, Bruce, Steve and Tony took stools behind them.   
“Wow, to see all of you up close, it’s awesome.”  
“Thanks, Jimmy. It’s good to be here.” Pepper said for all of them.  
“I got to tell you I was really excited you actually agreed to do this interview. As far as I’m aware, you guys haven’t done anything like this before, right?”  
“That is correct Jimmy.” Tony spoke up.  
“Why is that?”  
“Some of them don’t know when to shut their mouths.” Maria said.  
“I assume that statement was directed at someone in particular.”  
“Uh yeah, me. I like to talk.” Tony said.  
“He likes to hear himself talk.” Clint interjected amid laughter from the crowd.  
“So I know your headquarters is Avenger’s Tower formerly Stark Tower, but do all of you live there or is that just like a meeting place?”  
Steve spoke up to answer for them, “It’s both, for a while there most of us were just dropping by when needed, but now we are spending more time there, not just for meetings.”  
“Everyone knows how the Avengers came to be, but did you guys work well together right from the beginning or did it take some getting used too?”   
The back row looked back and forth at each other before Natasha answered, “Oh it was like family right from the start…if you’re family beat each other up on a regular basis. Steve and Tony were the worst I think”.  
“Really, care to share an example?”  
“The first time I knocked some sense into Tony he was fighting Thor, I threw my shield and hit both of them to get their attention.”  
“You fought Thor?”  
“He took something of mine.” Tony shrugged.  
“We all bickered with each other in the beginning, then New York happened and we had something to fight for.” Bruce interjected.  
“Except you and Tony, you got along just fine, right from the start.” Maria said.  
“A little birdie told me that you, Dr. Banner, are going to be heading up a new division of Stark Industries. Any truth to these rumors?”  
“Well…” he started but Tony broke in.  
“It’s called Banner Tech. It’s going to be awesome.”  
“Banner Tech will be a new area for Stark Industries. They will be concentrating on new medical inventions for areas of the world where they do not have basic medical care.” Pepper said, ever the CEO.  
“I’ve worked in several places where people were dying just because they didn’t have access to aspirin. I hope to help these same people who once helped me.” Bruce said.  
“That’s very noble of you.”  
“Bruce always likes to do what he thinks is right, just like Steve here.” Clint said.  
“And you don’t like to do the right thing?” Jimmy asked.  
“I didn’t say that.”  
“Clint’s the joker of the group. He’s always playing jokes on people.” Steve said.  
“Like what?”  
“He loves to drop out of air vents right next to people and scare the crap out of them.” Natasha said.  
“He doesn’t do that as much anymore, not since Pepper threw her coffee at him that one time.”  
When Jimmy cocked his head and stared at her Pepper she offered him a small smile and a shrug of the shoulders.  
“It was five in the morning.”  
They exchanged a few more stories and a lot of laughs before Jimmy asked them a question they couldn’t answer right away.  
“It’s been a couple of years since New York, why do you continue to fight as a team?”  
After several seconds of silence, Maria answered for them.  
“Every good and excellent thing stands moment by moment on the razor’s edge of danger and must be fought for.”  
“If we don’t fight for good, evil wins.” Natasha added.  
“Well we thank you for your continued service to this planet, maybe next time you come on Thor will be here.” Jimmy said.  
“Thank you for having us on tonight.” Pepper said pleasantly.  
They all waved goodbye to the camera and even signed autographs for the audience members before making their way home to the tower. 

 

The next day when everyone gathered for breakfast, Clint and Natasha were making French toast, Maria sat down with her tablet and read them some of the headlines that had come out of their interview.  
Of course Tony was reading on his own tablet.  
“You going to mention the one from the Birmingham News?” he asked her.  
“Wasn’t planning on it.” She shot back.  
“What?” Steve asked.  
“They love her or at least her comment last night on why we still fight the bad guys.”  
“It was a good quote.” Steve said.  
“I wasn’t being sarcastic; they really did love that line.”  
“It wasn’t even an original quote, I read it somewhere a long time ago and it always stuck with me. I figured it sums up what we do pretty well.”  
“That it does.” Natasha agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I came into this world kicking and screaming, covered in someone else’s blood. I have no problem with going out the same way.” –USMC

Maria Hill was in the marines for nine years before she was recruited by Nick Fury himself to work for SHIELD. When she reported for training she found her classmates were all men, all of them strangers, except one: Mr. Alexander Wilcox. They went to school together and while she took what she perceived to be the more challenging route of the USMC, he choose to go into the Army.  
“Maria?”  
“Hey Lex, long time no see.”  
“I know, it’s been what eight, nine years?”  
“Yeah, since graduation, at—“  
“Mike’s party, that’s right. How have you been? Still in the Marines?”  
“Unless I do well here. How’s the Army treating you?”  
“It’s been fine, I was surprised to be approached about SHIELD though, I had no idea they existed. It’s going to be cool to work for them.”  
“It will be interesting, that’s for sure.” She agreed.  
They turned with the rest of the group to see who just walked in from a different door than they all had used.  
“Training starts now, line up.”  
Everyone moved into position and formed two rows in front of the man in a suit.   
“Take a look around, a third of you won’t be here at the end of the week. I know that line gets used in the movies, but here at SHIELD it’s a fact. Now if you will follow me please, I’ll show you where you can stow your gear and we can get down to the reason you were all brought here.”  
A year later and Maria and Lex had graduated from SHIELD training and were being assigned to teams, two newbies and one experienced SHIELD member along with a handler. As luck would have it, or Fury’s will actually, Lex and Maria were paired with their main trainer, the man in a suit Agent Phil Coulson. Their handler was a woman called Dixie.   
They had been working as a team for almost three years and they had multiple successful missions under their belt, before tragedy struck their team. They were assigned to follow and capture an American, living in Australia suspected of stealing Russian nuclear secrets to sell to the Chinese.   
“This guy doesn’t know what he wants to be.” Lex said through coms. He was on a rooftop watching Maria follow this guy through an open market.  
“Well when we bring him in it won’t matter anymore, he’ll just be a number in a hole somewhere.” Maria muttered in response.  
They went silent for a couple of minutes before Maria came back over coms.  
“I’ve lost sight of Cheese, Coney do you have eyes on him?”  
“Coney, what do you see?” came Dixie’s voice when Lex didn’t respond to Maria’s inquiry.  
“Looking, he’s not here.”  
“Spitfire, stay on target, Coney keep looking, I’m coming in.”  
Maria followed their target until he walked into a rundown building.  
“Got a bad feeling about this.” Lex said.  
“I’m going in.” Maria said, glancing around before making her way to the door to follow. She listened at the door but heard no movement inside, so she took a deep breath before easing open the door. She stood in the partial darkness for a moment, listening to the silence. She started making her away around the room by following the left wall. She was almost to an open doorway when the she started hearing voices followed by a loud thump and another raised voice.   
“Found Cheese. The target has him tied to a chair, center room, first level.”  
Maria kept an eye on the goings on in the room, waiting for Dixie’s signal to go in. When it finally came across she took aim on her first target and shot him dead. What she didn’t expect was the Chinese to be in the next room and to file in guns blazing when they heard her shot go off. She fired off a couple of more shots, before crossing the doorway to take a look inside.   
She stopped aiming shots inside when she realized the guy she was suppose to have been tailing from the beginning was half crouching behind Coulson while pointing a gun into the side of his head.   
“I recommend you stop shooting or your Agent dies!” Came the yell from her target.  
Maria checked her weapon and replaced the magazine to buy some time.  
“Spitfire, take out the target and get out of there.” Dixie said.  
“Working on it.” She muttered.  
“I’m closing in on your position Spitfire.” Lex said as he was running down the street.  
“Coney, get back to your post. She can handle this.”  
Lex paused outside the building that unbeknownst to the public was currently housing an old fashioned standoff, “with all due respect ma’am, we’re not leaving without Coulson.”  
“You don’t get to decide that.”  
“Spitfire, I’m coming in on your six.”  
“Come to the left, I’m through the second door.”  
“Roger.”  
“I know you’re still out there, why don’t you kick that weapon in here and walk in nice and slow, hands up.”  
“Why don’t you stop pointing that gun at him and come on out here so we can have a face to face chat.” She called back.  
“How many?” Lex whispered when he finally joined her.  
“Coulson in the center with Rappaport using him as a shield; five other hostiles fanned out around the room.”   
“Sounds like a real party.”  
She smirked at him, “ready to crash it?”  
He made a quick check of his weapons before grinning at her and responding in the positive.  
“Okay Rappaport, have it your way.” She called before kneeling down and beginning to shoot again, starting on the left, while Lex took the higher position and starting shooting on the right.   
Surprisingly they took down their targets without getting Coulson shot. They both walked into the room, keeping guns aimed on their target.  
Rappaport was trying to slide the chair across the floor to an area with more cover when he realized his body guards were no longer returning bullets. He looked around and closed his eyes briefly when he saw he was on his own.  
“Ready to give up?” Lex asked him as he took a step closer to the target.  
“Are you?”   
Maria saw it as in slow motion, although she could do nothing to stop it, Rappaport raised his gun and fired off a round causing Lex to hit the ground. She raised her weapon and dropped Rappaport in a burst of return fire before he could even finish turning her way.   
“Target cleared.” She said into coms.  
She was glad her training kicked in because she honestly couldn’t remember what to do next. She walked over to make sure the target was dead before releasing Coulson from his bonds and laying him out on the ground since he was still unconscious. She then proceeded over to Lex and although she knew he was dead, she couldn’t stop herself from dragging him over to lay next to Coulson.   
“Cheese is safe…Coney is down.”  
Two days later she was back at SHIELD Central in New York when she received a summons to the director’s office.  
“Agent Hill, I read your report.”  
Hill remained at attention and didn’t respond.  
“Do you have anything you’d like to add?”  
“My report is complete sir.”  
“That’s not what I asked Agent.”  
Maria still didn’t answer.  
“This isn’t the damn Corps Agent, at ease.”  
Maria relaxed her stance and clasped her hands behind her back.  
Director Fury walked around her and shut his office door, walking back to his desk he pushed a few buttons on a remote and waited until the windows dimmed and a green light flashed on the same remote.  
“We’re secure Agent.”  
Maria blinked at him but didn’t speak. He fixed her with a one eyed glare.  
“I appreciate you bringing Agent Coulson back and I am sorry your partner didn’t make it home.”  
Maria blinked at him but still didn’t say anything.  
Fine, if you don’t want to speak to me, just listen, you are going to take one week off and when you come back, you will be in charge of training for the next batch of recruits. Once their training is completed you will become a senior member of a team working under a new handler, Agent Coulson. He is replacing Dixie, whom has decided to retire. With the move to senior member, you also get a new clearance level, welcome to level four Agent Hill.”  
Over the next several years Maria continued to rise in SHIELD’s ranks. She became a trusted member of Fury’s inner circle, despite them not seeing eye to eye on a number of subjects. She made a name for herself by excelling at revenge missions. Fury sent her to take care of targets that had cost them members of SHIELD, and she never failed. With her excellent marksmanship and her skills at hand to hand combat trapped in her small frame, she took her targets by surprise.   
She was teaching a class of beginner recruits when one of them asked her about her call sign, Spitfire.  
“I came to SHIELD from the US Marine Corps, where we have many different sayings. One of which I perform my missions by, “I came into this world kicking and screaming, covered in someone else’s blood. I have no problem with going out the same way.”  
She looked around the small class, “that motto works for me. Something else will work for each of you, all you need to remember is do the right things and come home safe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is inspired by a song, Summertime, sung by Scarlett Johansson herself.

They discovered her secret late one July night. Tony and Pepper had gone out for the night to a Stark Industries Charity function, leaving their one year old daughter in the care of Natasha and Clint. Since they couldn’t have children of their own, thanks to Red Room’s ‘graduation procedure’, the two former master assassins loved doting on their niece. 

3 WEEKS BEFORE…

“Hey Boo Boo, how are we today?” Clint asked taking Tony’s daughter from him.   
He received giggles in response as he lightly tossed her in the air a couple of times.  
“She’s fine, wide awake and ready to go, it’s Pepper and I who are suffering.” Tony whined.  
“And you wouldn’t pass it up for anything, would you?” Pepper said coming in the room.  
Tony looked over at his daughter babbling half words at Clint and smiled, “You got me.”  
“Yeah I do.” Pepper said leaning down to share a kiss.  
“No PDA in front of the kid, isn’t that what we decided?” Steve said as he walked in with Natasha.  
“I thought that was no PDA in front of you?” Natasha said as she took her niece from Clint. “Hi Claire.”  
“Haha, funny.” Steve deadpanned.  
Claire giggled which caused the other adults to laugh.  
“See someone thinks it’s funny.” Natasha said rubbing noses with her niece.   
“Asha, Asha!” Claire said putting her hands on Natasha’s face.  
Natasha smiled and put Claire in her highchair to eat breakfast.  
“So Stark Industries is hosting a fundraiser in a few weeks on the 19th and we need someone to watch Claire that night.” Pepper said.  
“A whole night with this little monster…however will you find some to take that on?” Steve asked jokingly as he ruffled Claire’s hair.  
“Well we would only have to put in an appearance for a few hours—“ Pepper was cut off by Natasha.  
“Tony, take your wife to dinner beforehand, you two stay as long as you’d like and Clint and I will watch her.”  
“Are you sure? We’d hate to impose.”  
“How many times are we going to go through this?” Clint said with a sigh. “We will watch her whenever you want us too; all you have to do is ask.”  
“We appreciate it.” Tony said. “What do you say Pep, want to have dinner with me on the 19th?”  
“Hmm, adult food, wine, candles, no Mickey Mouse or Paw Patrol as mood music, and a chance for real conversation? Sounds delightful.”  
“Actually I was thinking about going and grabbing burgers.”  
“Even better,” she kissed him, “as long as we’re together.”  
On the night of the benefit, Tony and Pepper brought Claire down to the playroom on the common floor to meet up with Clint and Natasha. Natasha took Claire after Pepper and Tony said their goodbyes and got back on the elevator.  
“Okay Boo Boo, what would you like to do first?” Clint asked after Natasha put her down with her toys.  
“Shu Shu!”  
Clint looked at Natasha with a raised eyebrow.  
“She means Choo Choo, Thomas the Train.”  
“Oh, Jarvis?”  
“Already loaded and ready to play, sir.”  
“Thanks Jarvis, you can start it now.” Natasha said going to sit in the floor with Claire while Clint went to make popcorn.   
They spent the next few hours playing games with their niece and eating PB&J sandwiches for dinner. They curled up on the couch and put on Finding Nemo to try to lure Claire to sleep, it didn’t work, so Natasha had Jarvis switch to Mickey Mouse Club House which made Clint fall asleep.   
When Tony and Pepper stepped off the elevator later that night, they found Clint still asleep on the couch and Mickey Mouse still playing on the screen.  
“Mute, J.” Tony said.   
Pepper stood back while Tony cautiously tossed a pillow at Clint to wake him up. They waited, but Clint didn’t even move so Tony walked around the couch and went to shake him when Clint sat up quickly and yelled, causing Tony to stumble back.  
Clint flopped back down laughing, “You know you can’t sneak up on me. I heard the elevator.”  
“Where’s Claire?” Pepper said looking over at the empty pack-n-play.  
“Natasha took her up to her room, to try to get her to sleep.”  
Clint got up and followed the parents into the elevator to go to Tony and Pepper’s floor. When they stepped off the elevator eight floors up, they went over to the open nursery where the parents stopped in shock. Natasha was holding Claire, who was wrapped in a fleece blanket, and was singing to her.  
“You’re daddy’s rich and your mommy is good looking, so hush little baby, don’t you cry…”   
Clint pushed past Tony and Pepper and entered the room. He walked over to Nat and placed an arm around her waist. She leaned into his embrace and he tilted his head against hers so he could whisper in her ear.  
Natasha went back to singing to Claire, “One of these mornings you’re gonna wake up singing…then you’ll spread your wings and take to the sky…but till that morning, there ain’t a nothing gonna harm you, with Daddy and Mommy standing by.”  
She placed a gentle kiss on the finally asleep child and placed her in her crib before turning with Clint and making their way out of the room. Tony followed them to the sitting area while Pepper went in to check on her daughter.  
Pepper shut the door as she joined the adults, “thanks for watching her for us.”  
“Did you have a good time?” Natasha asked.  
“Yes we did, and we met our donation goal.”  
“Awesome.” Clint said.  
“Didn’t know you could sing Red.” Tony said.  
“There’s still a lot you don’t know about me.” She walked over to the elevator.  
“We’ll see you in the morning.” Clint said walking over to Natasha.  
“Thank you again.” Pepper said as they stepped into the elevator.  
They last they saw of the parents was Pepper poking a finger into Tony’s chest.  
When they disembarked on their floor they got ready for bed in silence. Clint wrapped his arms around Natasha as she snuggled into him and used his chest as a pillow.   
“If I could change things, I would.” She finally said.  
“I know.” He said and squeezed her tighter to him.  
“Now that we’re not…” she paused…”Avenging as much anymore, the new Avengers can handle most of what comes up…” she trailed off.  
“Spit it out Nat.”  
She rose up and propped her head in her hands and looked at him. “Do you want to try adopting a child with me?”  
“Seriously?”  
“If you want. I’ve been thinking about it, but only if you want. I would never do anything like this without you, Clint. I love you.”  
Clint rolled over and pinned her to the mattress and kissed her, deep and hard.  
“I would love to adopt.”  
They both broke into smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the second and third lines of the country song Turn My World Around by Gloriana

You’ve been patient  
You’ve been honest  
You ask for nothing, but a hand to hold  
You’ve been fearless  
When you whisper  
A simple promise worth its weight in gold

No one ever loved me like you do  
You know I’ve been let down a time or two  
I was lost, I was nowhere bound  
You came along and turned my world around

We’ve been tested  
We’ve been lucky  
We found each other in this endless crowd  
We’ve been blessed  
Our search is over  
Forever starts right here, right now  
....  
....  
....  
He wasn’t sure how it happened; just that he had gotten incredibly lucky…finally. After all the hardships he had to endure to get to this place in his life, he loved the thought that this was his reward. That she was his reward. Bruce Banner loved Darcy Lewis, now he had to tell her.

 

 

“Thor’s girlfriend is coming for a visit next week.” Tony announced out of the blue.  
“Okay, can we assume Thor will be back in town as well?”  
“Who knows what Pointbreak is up too these days.” Tony said, “Pepper says we have to play nice and share our toys.”  
“Because you always share so easily.” Bruce said with a grin to his friend.  
“I share with you.” He pointed out.  
“Because, and I quote here, ‘you’re work on anti electron collision is unparalleled and I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a giant green rage monster.’”  
“You’re brilliant and dangerous; I’m drawn in like a moth to flame.”  
“That’s nice, Tony…unfortunately; you’re not really my type.”  
“and here I was making plans for our future life together. Jarvis scrap Plan SBTSBB, please.”  
“Sir, there is no-“  
“Mute, J.”  
Tony looked over at Bruce shaking his head with a smile on his face.  
“We make a good team, why do we need to play nice with some astrophysicist who will probably be in the way of our real work?”  
“Because Pepper said so.”  
“Oh yeah, that.”

 

 

“Tony, Bruce this is Jane Foster and her assistant Darcy Lewis. I’ve instructed them to play nice, but if he (she arched one eyebrow toward Tony) acts up, you have my permission to taze him like Thor.”  
“You tazed Thor?” Tony asked Jane.  
“Nope.”  
“I did.” Darcy spoke up. “He was freaking me out.” She shrugged. “Jane ran him over first.”  
“I didn’t run him over, I just ran into him a little bit.”  
Tony actually let out a little laugh, “When was this, maybe I can get footage of it.”  
“That’s classified.” Jane said.  
“But maybe we can work something out.” Darcy offered with a grin.  
“Hasn’t even been in my lab 5 minutes and you’re already trying to get me to spill secrets…not bad Lewis.”  
“Thanks, and I actually need a favor, not that I wouldn’t love to hear some of your secrets.”  
“Tit for tat, little one. Show me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”  
“Really Tony?” Bruce finally spoke up.  
“He does speak.” Darcy said.  
“Darcy.” Jane admonished.  
“What? He’s just been all Mr. Serious over there with his StarkPad. Also, I kind of didn’t expect him to talk to me since he’s…”  
“A monster?” Bruce cut in.  
“A genius actually.” Darcy finished her sentence.  
“See Bruce, one day you will stop jumping to conclusions about everyone.”

 

“Okay guys, here is your lunch.” Darcy came into the lab after receiving the all clear from Jarvis, who also muted the music that was blaring before she walked in. “Boys, lunch, now.” She sat down the tray of food.  
Bruce came over and took a plate while Tony kept moving things around on his holotable. She went and got two bottles of water from the fridge against one of the walls.   
She handed one to Bruce and set the other one on the tray next to Tony’s plate. Bruce paused with a fork of pasta partway to his mouth to watch what was about to unfold.  
Darcy walked over to stand behind Tony and pulled out her phone. He watched her tap away on her phone for a moment before apparently finding whatever she had been looking for, if the grin forming on her face was anything to go by.  
“Anthony Stark! What on earth do you think you’re doing?!” came the unmistakable voice of Pepper Pottts.   
Tony actually jumped a bit and spun around to find Darcy holding her phone out while covering her laughter with her other hand.   
“That’s not funny.” Tony said.  
“Yes it was.” Darcy gasped out between laughs. “Bruce agrees with me.”  
“Brucie?” Tony started looking around for his friend.  
“Yes Tony?” Bruce said, focusing on his pasta.  
“Darcy used Pepper against me.”  
“And you want me to do what about that?” he asked taking a bite of food.  
“Tell her it wasn’t funny.”  
“But it was, and I’m not going to lie to her.” He shot Darcy a grin.  
“Ha! See, told you Tony.” She started walking out of the lab, “Eat your lunch Tony, I’m going to meet Pepper for lunch.” She walked out.  
Bruce took pity on his friend and took him the other plate of pasta. “Eat.”  
Darcy poked her head back in, “Oh and don’t forget, we have that dinner party tonight at 7:30. Pepper said she laid out a suit for you already, and Jarvis has already been notified to start reminding you at 4:30.”  
“J?” Tony asked, looking up.  
“I have indeed been set to give you a reminder every 30 minutes until 6:00 and then I am to notify you every 15 minutes.”  
“Seriously, Jarvis? Who do you take orders from?”  
…  
“Jarvis?”  
“Sir?”  
“Nothing Jarvis, continue running simulation 37-C please.”  
“Yes sir, Dr. Banner.”  
“Anyways, I’ll be gone the rest of the day so don’t blow anything up.”  
“We’ll try, make no promises.” Tony said, already sitting his plate down to start working again.  
“I’ll keep an eye on him, but either way, I’ll pick you up 7:00.” Bruce said.  
Darcy gave him a big grin, “See you.” She walked out.  
“J, change 737.4 to 739 and rerun, wait, what just happened?” he changed focus back to Bruce.  
“Eat your food and I’ll tell you.”  
“I don’t want to eat.”  
“Tony, you know you drink way too much at these things and you barely pick at your food. That’s why the pasta for lunch, keep your stomach settled for tonight.”  
“But it’s cold by now.”  
“If you had eaten it when Darcy brought it in, it would have been warm like mine was. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t eaten cold food before.”  
“True.” Tony picked up the plate and started eating again. “Tell me how you landed Ms. Sassy Frass.”  
“Sassy Frass? Really?”   
Tony shrugged and made a gesture with his fork.  
He sighed, “Fine, okay. Darcy and I have been hanging out, but it started by accident. We would run into each other in the kitchen, usually late at night.”  
“Clichéd much?”  
“Do you want to hear this or not?”  
After a beat, where Tony was silent, Bruce continued.   
“I really enjoyed hanging out with her, she was easy to talk to and she liked to tell me things too. When Pepper told us about the dinner party, I figured it would be a good opportunity to ask her on a real date. I asked her the next time we were hanging out and she said yes. Now I’m leaving in a few hours to get ready for my first date in a very long time.”  
Tony stayed silent.  
“You can comment now.”  
“I think, I think she will be good for you.”  
“Really?”  
“Really Bruce, maybe Pepper has made me soft, but I want my friends to be happy.”  
“Thanks Tony.”  
There was a ding from one of the computers and both men turned toward their semi forgotten simulations.

 

 

“Wow, you look amazing.” Bruce said after Darcy opened her door.  
“You clean okay too.” She smiled at him.  
“These are for you.” Bruce handed her a bouquet of flowers.  
“They smell good, thanks, I’ll just put these in water and then we can go meet the others.”

 

That was 8 months ago, now they were seriously dating and Bruce was happier than he had been in a really long time. She was playing on her StarkPad while leaning back in one of the chairs of the lab, with her feet propped on a table.  
“Miss. Potts is on her way down.” Jarvis announced.  
“That’s my cue to leave.” Tony said, practically sprinting to the other door on the other side of the lab.  
“What did he do now?” Bruce wondered out loud.  
“It’s more likely, what didn’t he do?” Darcy retorted, letting her feet hit the ground as Pepper walked briskly into the lab.  
“Where is he?”  
“That way.” Darcy and Bruce said together, both pointing to the other door.  
“Thank you.” She said following in the steps of her man child of a boyfriend.  
Darcy and Bruce shared a look and started laughing.  
“Some things never change.” Darcy said propping her feet back up.  
Bruce watched her go back to playing on her StarkPad before resuming his own work.  
He looked back up when she started laughing.  
“What’s so funny?”  
“This thing on Facebook, it’s a frying pan, but it looks like a panda, and the caption says: Babe look what I bought. What the hell is this? It’s a pan, duh!” she laughed some more.  
He grinned at her and let out a chuckle. “I love you.”  
She dropped her feet to the floor again, “what?”  
“I love you, Darcy. You’re an amazing person, I mean, I’ve shared my secrets with you, you’ve seen me at my worst and you are still here, right here. You don’t expect me to be anything more than what I am right now, that’s…refreshing.” He grinned at her, “I love you Darcy, I’m sorry if you aren’t ready to hear that, since I didn’t even know I would be saying those words to you today, but they’re true. I. Love. You.”  
“Woah, that’s a lot to take in.”  
“I know, I’m sorry.”  
“Stop apologizing. I love you too Bruce.”  
“You do?”  
“Of course I do. You know all my secrets too, and since we’ve been together I know where I’m supposed to be now. You’ve helped me find my place in this world, and I love you for that. I love you Bruce Banner, get over it.”  
“I’ll do my best ma’am.” He made his way to her.  
She stood up just in time for him to wrap his arms around her and pull her in for a kiss.  
“Seriously, you two? Get a room.” Tony said coming back in.  
Darcy responded by flipping him the bird and Bruce kissed her again.

 

A few months later was their one month anniversary, Bruce gave her a wrapped box.   
“I got you a gift too.” She handed him a box.  
They both burst out laughing when they opened their gifts.  
Inside both boxes were matching panda skillets.

 

Used to strange things popping up around the Tower, no one batted an eye when they found Steve making pancakes with a panda pan the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A gentleman will open doors, pull out chairs, and carry things. Not because she’s helpless or unable, but because he wants to show her that she is valuable and worthy of respect.

Maria Hill had spent the majority of her life proving her independence. She took the more difficult routes, and had to work twice as hard to prove herself as a capable soldier, agent and now deputy director. She was no stranger to the whispers that plagued her along the halls of the SHIELD facilities she frequented, hell, she started a couple of them herself. Agents turned and went the other way when she came down the halls, when she did eat in the cafeteria she ate alone; she was the first to meetings and the last to leave. This was her routine now, she had come to expect these things, looked forward to them most days.   
Steve Rogers changed everything.  
They had only interacted a couple of times when the events of Loki in New York changed everything. Almost seven months after the invasion, she was back at the Triskelion full time. Fury had put her in charge of teaching a group of new recruits some basic self defense moves when he showed back up at SHIELD.  
“Anyone want to volunteer to show off what you already know?” she started by asking the group of 20 newbies.  
She let out a sigh as she watched them look around at each other. “Someone, anyone.”  
“Can I help ma’am?” came a voice from sidelines.  
“Will no one step up? You are here to be Agents. Agents of Shield do not let Captain America fight their battles.”   
She could tell a few of them wanted to say something, but smartly refrained from opening their mouths.  
“Pathetic.” She turned to Steve, “Come on over Captain.”  
Steve made his way to the mats, nodding at the group of recruits before taking his place in front of Maria.  
“Steve Rogers, ma’am.”  
“I know who you are Captain, let’s show these weaklings a thing or two.”  
“Yes ma’am.”  
“I want everyone to split into partners and practice exactly what we just showed you. We’re going to be moving among you, correcting as needed.” Every stood still. “Now.” She smirked when they jerked into motion.  
“Captain, a word.” They stepped off to the side.  
“Ma’am?”  
“Next time we do this, I don’t want you to go that easy on me. I can handle it.”  
“I thought the purpose of this was to teach them the motions to defend themselves?”  
“It is, but…” she paused.  
“But you don’t want to lose your tough imagine.”  
She fixed him with a stare before flicking her eyes to the left of him, “Robertson! What did we just go over?” she walked away from Steve who turned and started observing the other recruits.  
“So how’s the new job?” Melinda May asked her.  
“Good.”  
“Maria.”  
She gulped some of the bottle of beer in her hand. “What do you want to know?”  
“How’s the new job? I see news reports of the Avengers of course, but you’re not in the spotlight. What gives?”  
“I’m not an Avenger, Mel.”  
“I know, but what do you think about them?”  
“They’re mostly good at what they do, now if we could get them to stop destroying property every time they get in a fight with someone, my job would be so much easier.” She grinned at her friend.   
“They fight evil, even this ragtag group on here can’t stop from tearing things up when we let them loose on land.”  
“Yeah, I saw where they blew out the side of the bus.”  
“Well they saved Coulson, so…” Melinda offered up a half shrug.  
“They took a ‘team’ trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania after Thor discovered hershey’s kisses.”  
“Seriously?”  
“It was actually Banner’s idea, he didn’t factor in them going to ZooAmerica and Thor wanting to set the animals free.”  
“Video?” Melinda asked while laughing.  
Maria silently handed her a flash drive.  
The two friends opened new beers and settled back in to continue catching up.  
“So how are things with the Captain?”  
“About the same.”  
Melinda just stared at her and lifted one eyebrow.   
“It is, he still acts the gentleman any time we are around each other, and it’s annoying.”  
“Have you told him that?”  
“Of course I have, he always apologizes, but it doesn’t change things.”  
“Do you really want it to?”  
“Yes.”  
Melinda gave her another arched eyebrow.  
“I can open doors for myself, I can drive myself around, hell I can fly myself around, I know how to maim someone, I can work a gun and a knife, I excel at hand to hand, although…” she trialed off.  
“Although what?” Melinda prompted.  
“It’s nice having him show up to meetings early, since Tony is always late, I can send Steve to get him.”  
“It’s Steve now.” Melinda observed.  
“He likes to drop by with lunch sometimes. He says if he didn’t I wouldn’t take a lunch break.”  
“That’s true.” Melinda agreed. “You’re dating Captain America.”  
“I am not, we’re just…”  
“Uh huh.”  
“It’s a weird relationship, I’m not technically his boss, but I do give him and his team job assignments, I guess its co-workers.”  
“You don’t sound sure of that.”  
“Shut up.”  
“Good afternoon, Maria.”  
“Hey Steve, give me one moment.” She typed away on the keyboard for a bit before clicking around, he assumed to save whatever she had been doing.  
“Sorry about that, how can I help you?”  
“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”  
“What?”  
“Would you like to go on a date with me tonight, for dinner?”  
“I don’t think –“she was cut off.  
“I’ll accept your no, and never ask you again if that’s what you want, but don’t turn me down because you’re still trying to hold on to your SHIELD imagine.”   
She let her lips twitch in a half smile, “I was going to say, I don’t think I can do it tonight, but what about tomorrow night?”  
“Tomorrow?” he looked a little shocked she said yes.  
“Yes as in the night after tonight.”  
He broke into a grin, “Sounds wonderful.” He made to leave her office. “I’ll pick you up at 6:30.”  
“Looking forward to it.” She returned his grin.

After he left her office, she immediately called Pepper. “You won’t believe what just happened.”  
“What did they do now?”  
“I have a date tomorrow night.”  
“Yay! With Steve?”  
“Why would you assume Steve?”  
“Because I’ve seen the way you interact with each other.” Pepper said slowly, like she was talking to a child.  
“As a matter of fact it was Steve.”  
“Oh my god, I’m excited for you. So, what are you going to wear?”  
The next night at dinner they were chatting away like the friends they had become.  
“I have a question.”  
Maria took a sip of her wine, “okay?”  
“For the first couple of years we knew each other, I had the impression you didn’t like me very much. Was I just crazy or was that a sound deduction?”  
“I guess I was a little cold to you back then.”  
“A little?” he laughed.  
“Was I really that awful?”  
“I wouldn’t say you were awful, just cold.”  
“Because that’s so much better.” She said.  
“It just made me more determined to get to know you.”  
“Which just irritated me more.” She admitted.  
“Why?”  
“You were being you.”  
“I’m sorry?”  
“It’s not a bad thing.” She started explaining, “You were being a gentleman.”  
“And that made you mad.”  
“Sort of, I spent my whole life trying to become the best I could be. I joined Shield with the goal of one day becoming director. I worked harder than everyone else around me to prove that I could do the same job better than them. I had been doing things for myself for so long, that when you can around and started trying to help, it aggravated me. I’m not proud of the way I acted back then, and I’m sorry it took me so long to drop the act and just accept that you weren’t going anywhere.”  
“Apology accepted.”  
“Just like that?”  
“Just like that.” He tilted his head, shrugged his shoulders, and grinned at her.  
She laughed, "Dork."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ‘Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.’

“What have you done?”  
“Wasn’t me Coulson.” Clint Barton defended.  
“Barton.” Phil Coulson’s voice spoke of frustration and having to deal with another one of his top marksman’s practical jokes.  
“Check the camera, I’ve been at the range since 8.”  
“I did check the camera, you were not at the range. In fact we couldn’t find you on any camera today.”  
“What? Coulson, it wasn’t me.” Barton actually looked bewildered.   
Phil narrowed his eyes at Barton and studied him for a moment.  
“Okay.”  
Clint relaxed in relief, not even realizing how much he had been tensing up.  
“I’m going to go see a tech about the camera systems, you stay here. Do not leave this room.”  
“Yes sir.” Clint made his way over to his desk and went back to cleaning his bow.  
He waited five minutes after he heard Coulson walk away from his door before he spoke.  
“I’m going to kill you.”  
“No you’re not.” Natasha Romanoff said dropping from the vent.  
“Only because I’d hate to have to break in a new partner.”  
“You think I’m broken in? Really?”  
“Broken in enough for me.” He put his bow back in its case and turned to look at her. “I do like a challenge.” He grinned.  
“I just issued a big one, you think you’re up for it?”  
Clint dropped his head with a groan, “I cannot believe you did that. And messing with the cameras to not show my movements, not cool Romanoff.”  
“I try.” She shrugged. “Makes it more interesting.”  
“They aren’t questioning you about it though.” He pointed out.  
“Why would they, I was in the gym all morning.”  
Clint chuckled, “Fury will probably send us to Antarctica when he finds out.”  
“If he finds out.”  
“With our luck?”  
“True, you do have some rotten luck Barton.”  
“Guess it’s good that you’re around to save me.”  
“Agent’s Barton and Romanoff, report to Director Fury’s office now, Agent’s Barton and Romanoff, report to Director Fury’s office.”  
Clint let out another groan, “Now you’ve done it.”  
“Just play dumb, shouldn’t be too hard, you’ve had plenty of practice at it.”  
“Ouch, just for that, I’m telling them it was you.”  
She narrowed her eyes at him and lifted an eyebrow.  
“Or not.” He muttered walking out the door.  
She paused a moment to let a smile twitch on her lips before joining her partner for the trip to Fury’s office.  
….  
….  
“Which one of you wants to explain this?” Fury asked when the two Agents were standing at attention in front of him, with Coulson and Deputy Director Maria Hill watching from the sideline.  
Both agents stayed silent.  
“One of you better explain yourselves before I send you both to Antarctica.” He demanded.  
They stayed silent.  
“Okay, let me tell you what I know.” Fury said.  
“Barton didn’t show up on any cameras today, even though eyewitness accounts place him on the range this morning. Romanoff was in the gym all morning, training alone. An as yet, unnamed, person broke into my office and did this.” He looked at both of them through his one narrowed eye. “Take a look at your handiwork.” He said waving an arm around.  
Neither agent took the bait.  
“I don’t care which one actually did it, you’re both out of here.”  
“How long sir?” Coulson spoke up.  
“Until I say otherwise; you two, go pack a bag, you’re on the next transport out.” He gave them both a hard look. “Dismissed Agents.”  
They turned and made their way out of the office, neither having uttered a single word.  
“Sir.” Maria started.  
“I know.” He said to her before turning to Phil, “I hope they did their paperwork this time.”  
“You still think, they think that you have no idea?” Phil asked.  
Fury grinned, “I hope so. I want to see how far they’ll take this scheme of theirs.”  
“Always good to see you haven’t lost your since of humor sir.” Phil said leaving the office as well.   
“This is madness, you do realize that right?” Maria asked her boss.  
“Madness is genius.” Fury responded. “Set up transport for them.” He said going to sit down behind his desk.  
“Yes sir.” She said, closing his door behind her as she left.  
….  
….  
“See, it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous that absolutely boring.” Clint was explaining once again. “We got a laugh and a vacation.”  
Natasha shook her head and laid back on Clint’s bed as they waited for their handler to show up, knowing by now that it wouldn’t be but a few minutes. Their bags were already packed and sitting on the floor by the door with Clint’s bow case, completed paperwork on the desk waiting for Coulson’s signature.  
“You two beat all I’ve ever seen.” Coulson said walking in the room. “You deserve to be sent to the cold, I hope freezing your butts off makes you think about what you did. He’s the director of SHIELD, and whatever you personally think of the man, you should at least respect the position.” Coulson chastised them, knowing there were agents out in the hall listening in.  
“Yes, sir.” They both responded.  
“Going to the farm?” he asked Clint using sign language.  
Barton grinned, “Of course.” He signed back.  
“You better be up to date on your paperwork, Agents.”  
“Yes sir.” Clint said, picking it up from the desk and handing it to their handler.  
“I’ll try to talk Fury into bringing you back soon, but no promises.” Phil said taking the paperwork and walking out.  
Clint turned and grinned at Natasha who just flopped back down on the bed.  
She sat back up not even two minutes later when there was a knock on the open door frame.  
“Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, I was sent to tell you that your transport is ready, wheels up in ten.”  
“Thank you, Agent Dennen.” Natasha said standing up to gather her bag.  
They made their way to the waiting plane after Barton locked up his room. They stowed their gear and took seats next to each other on one of the benches, this was a supply run actually, so no regular seats were available.  
The co-pilot came back to see them.  
“Hey Frank, I guess this means Miller is flying today?” Clint asked.  
“Yep, we drew the short straw this time.”  
There was a slight pause before Frank decided to man up and ask his question.  
“So I heard a rumor about what you two did for Fury to punish you this way, how much of it is true?”  
“Well that depends on what you heard.” Natasha said after sharing a look with Clint.  
“That you manipulated the security feed, Agent Romanoff, while Agent Barton here, attached little plastic pirate figures to every available surface of Fury’s office and plaster the walls, floor and ceiling with pirate themed pictures.” Frank said in a rush of words.  
“You should know by now that you can’t believe everything the rumor mill spits out at SHIELD.” Clint said.  
“Yes, sir.” Frank said with a small smile, “Wheels up in just a few.”  
“Are we still stopping at the usual place to refuel?” Clint asked.  
“Of course.” Frank said as he walked up to the cockpit.  
“You know, for a secret organization, SHIELD has several routines.” Natasha said.  
“At least this one means we get time off, together.”  
“How long do you think it will last?”  
“At least three weeks.”  
“That’s ambitious.”  
“We’ll see.” Clint said.  
….  
….  
It was actually a month later when they reported back to base and upon opening Barton’s room they found everything was covered in pictures of the animated Disney character, Robin Hood.  
“Seriously?” Clint raged, while Natasha actually let out a laugh.  
“Serves you right.” She said.  
“Wonder what he did to your room.”  
That sobered Natasha up and she turned on her heel to make her way to her room. Clint caught up to her just as she reached her door.  
She took a deep breath before opening the door and flipping on the light.  
She had to call on her training to keep herself from yelling out in rage. She planted her feet firmly on the ground to stop from marching to Fury’s room to demand answers.  
“Serves you right.” Clint said walking past her into the room.  
She reached out and punched him in the shoulder.  
“Ow, Nat.” he rubbed his sore shoulder. “At least you don’t have a cartoon fox staring at you from every surface of your room.”  
“It’s pink. Everything is pink.”  
“More accurately, everything is about a dozen shades of pink.” Barton said.  
“Not helping.”  
….  
….  
The three people gathered in the cleared out security room all had similar smiles on their faces as they watched the drama unfolding on the monitor.  
“No offense sir, but you can be as ridiculous as those two sometimes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Sometimes it’s better just to put an old guard dog down, he’s more trouble than he’s worth once he’s outlived his usefulness.”  
> “You can always find some way to be useful Chief”  
> “And what am I suppose to do sir? If I don’t want to be a mercenary, what am I suppose to do? I can kill a man 18 different ways with my bare hands. I can break down 43 different assault rifles. I can jump out of a chopper going 30 knots 30 feet into a freezing ocean and swim all night to a submarine. But what am I suppose to do now?”
> 
> I’m not sure where I got this piece of dialogue, but I think it came from JAG.

“Maria!” came Steve’s yell through the grunts of fighting.  
Maria Hill shakily got to her feet after being thrown over a car thanks to the latest group of baddies they were trying to take down.  
“I’m okay.” She said through slightly gritted teeth while firing off a couple of shots from her side arm causing the guy who sent her over the car to fall to the ground; however he wouldn’t be getting back up.  
“You got a couple more coming up on your left.” Falcon said over coms.  
“I got them.” She said.  
She leaned against the car and lined up a shot but before she could fire, both goons dropped to the ground after taking a hit from Captain America’s shield.   
“I had that.” She said to Steve as he walked over to her.  
“I know.” He said smiling at her. “But I’ve got you, always.”  
“Sentimental fool.” She smiled at him, despite rolling her eyes.  
“Hey guys, if you’re done making eyes at each other, we could use some help over here.” Vagabond said.  
“Speak for yourself sweetheart.” Nomad said taking out another enemy.  
“Stay here, I got this.” Steve said to Maria. He turned and jogged down the street toward the newest Avenger recruits.  
“Yeah right.” She muttered following her boyfriend at a much more sedated pace.  
“How we doing D-Man?” Falcon asked the other member of their group.  
A grunt came over the coms, “almost out of bad guys.” There was a pause, “okay, completely out of bad guys.”  
“Head back to Vagabond’s position.” Steve instructed.  
“Will do Captain.”  
When Maria caught up with the rest of the group, they had taken out all the bad guys and Falcon was now on the ground with them.  
“LEO’s are on the way to clean up.” Falcon announced, tapping at his arm unit to recall Redwing.  
“Let’s get back to the jet.” Steve said, already turning and leading the way back to the building they parked the jet on top of.  
“Come on Dennis, let’s go get it ready.” Sam said as Redwing reattached itself to his back.  
Demolition Man stood in front of Falcon and waited for the other man to lift him up and carry him to the jet, since he was their current pilot.  
Dennis and Sam had already run through the preflight checks and were making small talk when the rest of the group walked up the ramp and start fastening themselves in.   
Vagabond strapped in next to Nomad up to the front of the jet while Maria and Steve buckled in toward the back on the opposite side, hoping for a piece of quiet for themselves before getting back to their new base.  
Despite having been together for several years now, Maria and Steve still held themselves to high standards of professionalism while interacting with their team members. Since Steve was seated between her and the others, she took the opportunity to lean into his shoulder slightly, sighing lightly when he pushed back into her just a bit in acknowledgment.   
“I’ll take care of the debrief when we get back.” He said.  
“Okay.” She said, not putting up her usual protest.  
“Okay.” He echoed. 

….  
….  
When Steve got back to his room after debriefing the team, he found Maria sitting on the couch, eyes closed.  
“How did it go?” she asked, not moving from her position.  
He made his way to the couch after he put his weapons away in the closet they used as an armory. He laid down and placed his head in her lap, letting a low hum escape when she brought her hand up to start running through his hair.  
“Bout as well as it usually goes.” He finally said.  
“Well you came back in a reasonable amount of time so I guess there were no fights this time.”  
“I’m hoping the more missions we take them on, the better those two will work together.”  
She smiled down at him, scraping her nails against his head, “They both like Vagabond, when she picks one it will hurt the team.” She observed.  
“I hope that doesn’t happen for a long time.”  
“At least as long as we took?” she teased.  
“And see how well it worked for us?”  
“It took how many people to force us to face our feelings?” she countered.  
“Worth it.” He said turning on his side and nuzzling her lower stomach.  
She raked her nails down behind his ears and neck and chuckled when he groaned. She knew how much he liked it when she used her nails on him.  
“Let’s go take a shower.” He suggested, getting up off the couch.  
“Too tired to move.”   
He reached his hands down to her and pulled her up when she grabbed on to his hands. He tugged her to him and picked her up in a bridal carry to take her into the large bathroom.  
When they finally made it to the bed, she snuggled into his side but before she could drift off, he started talking.  
“Want to tell me what has been on your mind lately?”  
“Go to sleep.”  
He huffed and stared up at the ceiling.  
She groaned, “Fine, I’m tired.”  
“You’ll sleep better once you clear your mind.”  
Rolling her eyes, “That’s not what I meant.” She rolled onto her back to mirror him.  
“I can’t believe I’m saying this. I always assumed I would be taken out by a merc or assassin, or die in a plane crash or alien attack.”  
She paused and took a breath, not looking over at him when she felt him move to prop himself up on his side, head in hand looking at her, studying her facial expressions.  
“I’m tired of fighting the fight all the time.”  
“Retire.” He suggested.  
“And what am I suppose to do then? I can kill a man 18 different ways with my bare hands. I can break down 43 different assault rifles. I can jump out of a chopper going 30 knots 30 feet into a freezing ocean and swim all night to a submarine. I can wrangle superheroes and politicians. I can handle alien invasions, magic, inhumans, mutants, and sleep deprived coffee fueled scientists, but what am I suppose to do if I’m not doing those things anymore?”  
“Knit?” he suggested.  
She let a grin cross her face for just a moment, rolling onto her side to slap his chest. “Be serious.”  
“You stopped working in the field when you were with SHIELD, you can go back to an administrative role. I know you started going back out into the field to help with training new recruits we took on, but you don’t have to go out there if you don’t want to.”  
“But I want to.” She protested. “I want to be out there with you, watching your six. I don’t trust the newbies to watch out for you like I do.”  
“No one watches out for me like you do, but eventually we have to let go and trust them.”  
“I know, and I know you can handle yourself, but it’s hard. If I’m not out there, it might be time to put me down.”  
He rolled over on top of her, and propping his weight on one arm he used his other hand to cup her cheek and angle her head up to meet his eyes.  
“I love you, Maria. You can do whatever you want to, be it staying on active duty or taking on a straight administrative role again. I will support you in anything you decide, as long as you are happy with it.”   
She maneuvered her arms up between them and tugged his face even closer to hers.  
“Thank you.”  
“Always.” He promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This prompt came from my sister, she said it came from a song on One Tree Hill (a TV show she watches). She wanted a scene with Steve and Phil using these lyrics: I always said that I would make mistakes. I’m only human and that’s my saving grace. I’ll fall as hard as I try, so don’t be blinded. See me as I really am, I have flaws and sometimes I’m even sad. So pull me from that pedestal, I don’t belong there.

It was after everything, after the fight with aliens, after dinner, after all the debriefings before he was finally able to take off the uniform and shower. He was currently standing under the hot spray, forehead tilted against the wall while the water pounded his back, loosing tense muscles after such a strange and stressful day.   
His thoughts wondered back over the events of the day, flashes of events passing before his closed eyes. His erratic thoughts finally settled into guilt, thinking back to his interactions with Agent Phil Coulson. The older man had just wanted to talk to his childhood hero, to ask him to sign some old trading cards, something Steve had done thousands of times in his life as Captain America.  
“Why couldn’t I do it this time?” he muttered to himself.  
….  
….  
“I got to say it’s an honor to meet you, officially. I sort of met you; I mean I watched you while you were sleeping. I mean, I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know it’s really just a huge honor to have you on board.”  
“Well I hope I’m the man for the job.”  
“Oh you are, absolutely.”  
“How can you be so sure?” Steve asked.  
“You’re Captain America. You’ve taken down Nazis, Hydra cells and Red Skull. You led the Howling Commandos through a war torn Europe and came out unharmed, albeit a little cold.” Phil’s attempt at humor fell a little flat.  
“I lost my best friend during that War and lost my girl thanks to Red Skull and that ice nap I took. I always said that I would make mistakes. I’m only human after all. I’ll fall as hard as I try. See me as I really am, I have flaws and I get angry, and sometimes I’m even sad. So pull me from that pedestal you obviously have me on, I don’t belong there. I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.” Steve said.  
“You’re more than that.” Phil said. “You might have been a kid from Brooklyn, but you became so much more. You were a symbol of peace, of hope, during a dark time in our history. People looked up to you then and now and once word gets out that you are alive and back among the people, once more will you be a living legend.”   
….  
….  
Steve moved out from under the cooling spray and after getting redressed in SHIELD provided sleep wear, he pulled up Phil’s file on the tablet that had been given to him after he first woke up from the ice. He read through all the information provided in the file, before moving on to looking up other personnel he had met during the course of the last 48 hours. When he finally found it hard to keep his eyes open, he set the tablet aside and crawled under the thin blanket provided.  
He spoke aloud one last time before drifting into a restless sleep.  
“I’m sorry Agent Coulson.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Idiots cause stress, Stress causes depression, Depression causes physical ailments. Conclusion: Stupid people make me sick.

“I can’t do it!” Tony exclaimed, following Pepper into the common kitchen.  
“You can.” Pepper said, without looking up from her phone.  
“Okay, physically I can, I just don’t want to.”  
“Tough luck. You agreed to do this months ago, you cannot back out now.” She fixed him with a glare.  
“What is Stark trying to get out of now?” Steve asked, turning from his spot at the stove.  
Clint dropped down from the kitchen vent above the fridge and then slide down to the floor.  
“Tony has to give a tour and a speech.”  
“I have to give a speech too?” Tony asked Pepper.  
“It’s nothing you haven’t done before, Tony. Just give them a tour of the labs, talk to them for a bit, answer some questions and escort them out.”  
“Because it’s that easy?”  
“If you give it more than 12 percent of your attention, it is.”  
Tony narrowed his eyes at Pepper before walking up to her and taking the phone out of her hand to slip into his pocket before he backed her into a counter.  
Steve and Clint rolled their eyes before slipping out of the room and leaving the power couple alone.  
“Really Tony? You’re going to make me late…again.”  
“You’re the boss, show up when you want to. That’s what I did.”  
“And that’s why the board is happier now, the CEO actually shows up to meetings on time now.”  
“Can’t Bruce give the tour?”  
“Have Dr. Banner give a tour of Stark Industries labs and answer questions about Stark Tech? Nope.”  
Pepper raised her arms and looped them around Tony’s neck as his hands were already settling on her hips.”  
“Why are you so against this, you’ve done this same tour a dozen time already?”  
“Idiots cause stress, Stress causes depression, Depression causes physical ailments. Conclusion: Stupid people make me sick.”  
Pepper started laughing, dropping her head to his shoulder.  
Tony wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her more firmly into his body.  
“You’re unbelievable, Tony.”  
“It’s a perfectly valid reason.”  
“How about this, if you do get sick I’ll take a day off and be your private nurse.”  
“You’re full attention, no phone or email?”  
“50-50.”  
“100 percent on me.”  
“60-40”  
“100 percent.”  
“I can’t just disappear for the day, Tony.”  
“100 percent.”  
“88-12, final offer.”  
“100 percent.”  
Pepper sighed, “Fine, if you get sick, I mean seriously sick because you gave this tour, I’ll take a day away from the company and take care of you, 100 percent.”  
Tony pressed a kiss to her lips before moving away, “Okay, I’ll do it.”   
“Tony, my phone please.”  
Tony walked back to her, handing her the phone he stole earlier.  
Pepper accepted it with one hand while the other reached out and grabbed Tony’s shirt.  
She tugged him closer to her to kiss him again, before she relinquished his shirt and side stepped around him with a smile on her face.  
….  
….  
“I told you I’d get sick from that tour.” Tony said with a slight cough.  
“You got sick, because you set off the sprinkler system after starting a fire in the lobby downstairs.”  
“While giving a tour, it’s not my fault one of them tried to steal a design from me and got caught.”  
“I know, I know. But you did get sick and I am here playing nurse.”  
“Without your phone.”  
“Without any technology.”  
“Want to watch a movie?”  
“A movie? We’ve never just sat down and watched a movie.”  
“So let’s do it. I’m staying in bed, you’re off from work, let’s just spend the day together.”  
“By watching a movie?”  
“Sure, or a TV show or listening to music. I want to spend some time with you, just us, no emergencies, no work, no interruptions.”  
“I’d like that.” She made her way to the large walk in closet.  
“I had planned to watched a movie here, but if you want to go out…” he trailed off, rolling over to the edge of the bed to get up.  
“Lay down Tony, I’m just changing into something more comfortable.”  
She had gotten ready to leave for work, when Tony woke up complaining of being sick.  
She reemerged from the closet in yoga pants and one of his t-shirts.  
“Damn, you make anything look good.”  
She walked to the bed and laid down next to him, “Flattery will get you every where Mr. Stark.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Knowing a person is like music, what attracts us to them is their melody, and as we get to know who they are, we learn their lyrics. – Anonymous

James Rhodes had always been a quiet child. If you go to the old neighborhood and find people that remember him growing up, they all remember him being studious and calm, no matter what was going on in his home. James kept to himself most of the time, until one day in middle school. His school had an assembly one day to discuss their futures. He already knew that several, if not half of his current class wouldn’t make it to graduation and he was determined to do better then them. People from various careers came and spoke to them, a couple intrigued him but his attention was caught by an Air Force Lieutenant. From that day forward he knew he wanted to serve his country. He took up running and started doing pushups and pull ups when he could. He played sports in high school and graduated at the top of his class, going straight into the service. They paid for him to go to college where he studied his way through classes during the week and did drills as required.  
His sophomore year he was given a roommate, one Anthony Stark. The school hoped that with Anthony being younger and James being in the Air Force, that James could keep an eye on the prodigy.   
Looking back on that, James can’t help but laugh. Sure James helped Anthony out of a couple of tight spots, when his running sarcasm would get him into trouble with other older students, but (not that he would admit to Tony except when very drunk) Anthony taught him so much more.   
They ended up becoming Tony and Rodey by the end of the first semester the were put together. Tony’s brash attitude and loud personality complimented James quieter more reserved nature. They went most places together except their individual classes.   
“Whatever it is you’re planning, don’t.”  
“You aren’t even here, Rhodey, how do you know I’m planning anything?”  
“Because I know you Tony, now cancel whatever it is.”  
“Sure thing.”  
“Tony, I mean it. I’m not going to be able to help you out of trouble this time. You remember what the dean said last time.”  
“Yeah, yeah. No wild parties in his office this time. Got it.”  
“Tony…”  
“Can’t hear you, going through tunnel, talk later.” Tony hung up on his friend.   
“I swear that boy will be the death of me yet.” Rhodes said to the airman stepping up to take his place at the phone bank.  
Receiving just a blank stare, he sighed and relinquished the phone to the next guy in line.  
Four hours later, there was a knock on the door.  
Tony opened it, expecting to find an older classmate with the keg Tony had ordered, since he was too young to get it himself; luckily, he had plenty of money that got him what he needed.  
“You are not what I ordered.”  
“No sir, my name is Happy Hogan, I was sent here by James Rhodes. He tasked me with keeping an eye on you, and I quote, “Do NOT let him throw or go to any parties until I get back in town,” end quote.   
“He’s just jealous he won’t be here to enjoy the awesomeness.”   
“I believe his thoughts were that he couldn’t be here to help bail you out of trouble again.”  
“Well I already laid the plans for a little get together tonight, so I’m afraid your trip over here was all for naught.”  
“And those plans have been taken care of.”  
“Excuse me.”   
“James said to tell you that he called your supplier and told him the party was off and then I believe he started a phone tree to let the campus know of the change of plans.”  
At that moment Tony’s phone rang.  
“I have to get that, you go away.” Tony shut the door on Happy.  
“What have you done?” he said without preamble.  
“I took measures to ensure a quiet night for you.” Rhodes said.  
“You had no reason to do that.”  
“I care about you, that’s reason enough. Just study, watch a movie, read a book, build something. Get to know Happy, I bet you will hit it off.”   
“Ah yes, the big guy in the hall, where ever did you find him?”  
“He is actually the brother of a guy I know here, we were talking about it and he mentioned his brother was looking at getting into the bodyguard business.”  
“So, you hired me a bodyguard?”  
“Yes, he knows a lot about boxing apparently, maybe he can show you some moves.”  
“My moves are just fine thank you.”  
“Just relax, I’ll be back in a few days and then you can throw your party.”  
“Whatever you say man.”  
“Let Happy into the apartment Tony.”  
“Goodbye Rhodes.”  
“Tony.”  
Click  
….  
The next day found Tony and Happy in a boxing ring trading hits. After Happy landed a particularly hard hit, he called for a break.  
“I guess this is Rhodey’s way of making sure I won’t get the girls once he gets back.” Tony said kneading the area around his eye, where a bruise was already formed from an earlier hit.  
“I think he just wants you to learn to defend yourself, sir.”  
“That’s what I have him for.”  
Happy tilted his head at the younger kid. “You know if he gets that promotion he’s going after, he’ll be deployed.”  
Tony stared blankly for a moment before turning to get a bottle of water.  
“I apologize for stepping over bounds, I wasn’t aware you didn’t know his plans.”  
“I wasn’t aware you were close enough to him to know his plans.”  
“I’m not, my brother mentioned it when he called me about this job.”  
“I see.” Tony climbed out of the ring.  
“Where you going?” Happy called out.  
All he got was a raised hand then Tony was disappearing through the doors.  
When James got home, he found Happy in his room but Tony was no where to be found.   
“So how long after you got here did he disappear?” Rhodes asked dropping his bags.  
“Yesterday, he left my in the boxing ring and by the time I got outside, he was gone.”  
“When doesn’t want to be found, it can be near impossible. What happened?”  
“It was my fault, I mentioned something I shouldn’t have and it upset him.”  
“What?”  
“I said brought up your promotion and deployment as a possibility for the near future.”  
Rhodes sighed deeply, “I see.”  
“I shouldn’t have assumed he knew, and I definitely shouldn’t have said anything about it.”  
“No you shouldn’t have, but it’s okay. I’m back now, so you’re good to leave. I’ll go get Tony.”  
“I can help.”  
“I think its best if it’s just the two of us for this.”  
“Yes sir.”  
Happy closed the door behind him.   
….  
….  
“Hey Tones.” James said softly.  
He was met with silence.  
“I’m back.”  
“Obviously.”  
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”  
Tony shrugged, “It’s your life.”  
“And you’re my best friend.”  
Tony glanced up from the car he was working on.  
“Look, nothing is being determined until I finish school. Even then, I’ll still be around. Someone has to make sure you eat, bathe, drink something nonalcoholic.”  
Tony grunted and leaned back over the hood of his car.  
“Whatever happens in our life, Tones, I will never abandon you.”  
“Hand me that wrench would ya?” Tony finally spoke.  
Rhodes grinned while handing over the tool, they were going to be just fine. He knew they would perform this dance again and again through the years, but they would remain friends, brothers, through it all. They knew each other inside and out, and nothing could interrupt that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this


End file.
